£rt 

)vary  of t:he  t:heological  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON    .    NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Herbert   E,    Pickett,    Jr. 

BX    9178     .C69    C5    1905 

Coyle,    Robert    Francis,     1850- 

1917. 
The    church    and    the    times 

THE    CHURCH   AND   THE    TIMES 


WAR  21  1966 
THE  Vi^iv., -i%^ 


CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 


SERMONS 


BY    THE    REV. 

ROBERT  FRANCIS  COYLE,  D.D. 

MODERATOR    OF    THE     II5    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    OF    THE 
PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN    THE    U.S.A. 


NEW  YORK:   A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON 

3  AND  5  WEST    I  8th    street 

LONDON:   HODDER   &   STOUGHTON 

1905 


PREFACE 

WITH  three  exceptions,  which  are  indi- 
cated in  their  respective  places,  the 
sermons  in  this  volume  were  preached  by  the 
author  to  his  own  people.  The  theme  of  the 
first,  from  which  the  book  receives  its  title, 
runs  through  them  all.  The  local  references 
here  and  there  it  is  hoped  the  reader  will 
kindly  excuse.  They  could  not  be  eliminated 
without  in  a  measure  robbing  the  sermons  of 
their  point  and  force.  As  a  modest  contri- 
bution to  the  cause  of  Evangelical  Religion, 
they  are  given  now  to  a  wider  public  with  the 
prayer  that  God  may  bless  the  gospel  message 
they  seek  to  proclaim. 

ROBERT  F.  COYLE. 


CONTENTS 


FAQB 

The  Church  and  the  Times       .  .  .1 

1  Cheon.  xii.  32,  33,  38. 

"...  Men  that  had  understanding  of  the  times,  to 
know  what  Israel  ought  to  do  .  .  .  expert  in  war  .  .  . 
fifty  thousand  which  could  keep  rank.  ...  All  these 
.  .  .  came  with  a  perfect  heart  to  Hebron  to  make 
David  king." 


The  Missing  Note  in  Modeen  Preaching       .     33 
Luke  xix.  10 ;  John  xvii.  18. 

"  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost." 

"  As  Thou  hast  sent  Me  into  the  world,  even  so  have 
I  sent  them  into  the  world." 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Power  from  on  High      .  .  .  .53 

Luke  xxiv.  49  ;  Acts  i.  8. 

"Until  ye  be  endued  with  power." 
"And  ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  come  upon  you." 


The  Imperilled  Home     .  .  .  .75 

2  Sam.  xxiii.  15 ;  1  Tim.  v.  i. 

"  And  David  longed,  and  said,  Oh  that  one  would  give 
me  to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem, 
which  is  by  the  gate." 

"  Let  them  learn  first  to  show  piety  at  home,  and  to 
requite  their  parents :  for  that  is  good  and  acceptable 
before  God." 


Life  for  Life       .  .  .  .  .95 

Lev.  xvii.  11 ;  Eph.  i.  7 ;  Rev.  v.  9. 

"  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood ;  and  I  have 
given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar,  to  make  an  atonement 
for  your  souls ;  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an 
atonement  for  the  soul." 

"  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  His 
blood." 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

"  And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying :  "  Thou  art 
worthy  to  take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof ; 
for  Thou  wast  slain  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by 
Thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue  and  people 
and  nation." 


On  Becoming  a  Christian  .  .  .  Ill 

Acts  xi.  26. 

"And  the  disciples  were  called  Christians  first  in 
Antioch." 

The  Mischief  of  Destructive  Thinking         .  131 

Matt.  ix.  3,  4. 

"And  behold  certain  of  the  scribes  said  within 
themselves,  This  man  blaspheme th.  And  Jesus  know- 
ing their  thoughts,  said,  Wherefore  think  ye  evil  in 
your  hearts  ?  " 

A  Vision  and  a  Volunteer        .  .  .  149 

ISA.  vi.  1-6. 

The  Making  op  Man        ,  .  .  .  175 

Gen.  i.  26. 

"And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image, 
after  our  likeness." 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Laid-up  Goodness  op  God  .  .  .  195 

PsA.  xxxi.  19. 

"  Oh,  how  great  is  Thy  goodness,  which  Thou  hast 
laid  up  for  them  that  fear  Thee;  which  Thou  hast 
wrought  for  them  that  trust  in  Thee  hefore  the  sons 
of  men ! " 


A  Right  Putting  op  Emphasis  .  .  .  215 

Matt.  vi.  33. 

"But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness." 

The  Kingdom        .  .  .  .  .237 

Matt.  vi.  10. 
"Thy  kingdom  come." 

A  Day  of  Good  Tidings  {Missionary  Sermon)  .  253 

2  Kings  vii.  9. 

"Then  they  said  one  to  another,  We  do  not  well: 
this  day  is  a  day  of  good  tidings,  and  we  hold  our 
peace :  if  we  tarry  till  the  morning  light,  some  mis- 
chief will  come  upon  us :  now  therefore  come,  that 
we  may  go  and  tell  the  king's  household." 


CONTENTS  xi 

FAQH 

Forgiveness  and  the  Cross       .  .  .  269 

Eph.  i.  7. 

"  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  His  blood 
the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of  His 
grace," 


Where  We  Rest  Our  Faith     .  .  .  289 

Eph.  ii.  20, 

"Jesus    Christ    Himself    being   the  chief    corner- 
stone," 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 


2 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   TIMES* 

"...  Men  that  had  vmderstanding  of  the  times,  to 
know  what  Israel  ought  to  do  •  •  .  expert  in  war  .  .  . 
fifty  thousand  which  could  keep  rank.  .  .  .  All  these  .  .  . 
came  with  a  perfect  heart  to  Hebron  to  make  David 
king."— 1  Chron.  xii.  32,  33,  38. 

THE  story  of  David's  mighty  men  is 
suggestive  and  striking.  It  reads  like 
a  romance.  They  are  described  as  men  of 
valour,  men  of  understanding,  men  fit  for 
the  battle,  expert  in  war,  swift  as  the  roes 
upon  the  mountains,  perfect  in  heart,  and 
men  that  could  keep  rank.  Skilful,  fearless, 
energetic,  capable,  loyal,  united — given  men 
of  that  sort,  all  bent  upon  the  accomplish- 
ment of  one  thing,  and  they  are  irresistible. 
No  matter  what  Philistine  hosts  may  ring 
them  around,  they  will  break  through  to 
victory.  What  their  captain  commands,  they 
will  do ;  what  he  wants,  they  will  secure 
If  he  longs  for  a  drink  of  the  water  of  the 
well   of   Bethlehem,    which   is    by   the    gate, 

*  Delivered  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  U.S.A.  at  Buffalo,  N.Y.,  May  19,  1904. 

3 


4       THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

they  will  cut  their  way  through  all  opposition 
and  bring  it.  If  a  barley  field  falls  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  they  will  drive  him  out 
or  perish  in  the  attempt.  If  there  is  a  lion 
in  a  pit  on  a  snowy  day  to  be  slain,  or  a 
grant  of  an  Egyptian,  whose  spear  is  like 
a  weaver's  beam,  to  be  disposed  of,  it  shall 
be  done.  No  dangers  can  frighten,  no  diffi- 
culties appal  them.  Such  men  must  always 
win.  In  the  present  case  their  king  was  in 
exile,  a  fugitive  from  his  throne,  and  the 
one  thing  they  lived  for,  and  planned  for, 
and  suffered  for,  was  to  conduct  him  to  his 
crowning  at  Hebron.  Everybody  knows  how 
completely  victorious  they  were.  Here,  then, 
we  have  something  that  may  be  made  to 
serve  us  a  good  turn  to-day. 

The  first  thing  that  emerges  is  their  pur- 
pose— to  make  David  king.  It  was  this  that 
united  them,  and  inspired  them,  and  trans- 
formed them  into  mighty  men  of  valour. 
And  this  precisely  is  our  purpose,  the  purpose 
of  the  Church,  as  to  "  great  David's  greater 
Son."  It  seems  a  long  way  yet  to  fulfilment. 
The  world  rushes  on  after  its  idols  and  has 
no  heart  for  its  King. 

"  Our  Lord  is  now  rejected. 
And  by  the  world  disowned, 
By  the  many  still  neglected, 
And  by  the  few  enthroned." 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES       5 

But  His  ultimate  and  universal  sovereignty 
is  as  certain  as  the  purposes  of  God.  "  He 
shall  have  dominion  also  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth."  He  is  to  be  enthroned  in  society,  in 
education,  in  literature,  in  business,  and 
among  the  nations.  It  stirs  one's  blood  to 
think  of  it.  The  world's  great  poets  and 
prophets,  getting  above  earth's  smoke  and 
dust  to  the  mountain-tops  of  rapt  and  inspired 
vision,  have  seen  it  coming,  and  have  sung 
and  spoken  of  it  in  words  that  are  immortal. 
With  wings  unweighted  by  sordid  gain  and 
unbedraggled  with  the  mud  and  dirt  of  the 
valley,  they  have  risen  into  the  clear  skies  of 
God,  and  reading  the  apocalypse  of  the  future, 
have  sent  down  the  most  optimistic  reports  to 
men  and  women  of  duller  eyes. 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Doth  his  successive  journeys  run." 

He  is  to  be  made  King  in  the  home.  Divorce 
mills  will  cease  to  grind  for  lack  of  grists,  and 
progressive  polygamy,  and  Mormon  polygamy, 
and  everything  else  that  slimes  the  sanctities 
of  family  life,  will  be  burned  away  in  the  fires 
of  His  holiness.  He  is  to  be  made  King  in 
the  realm  of  commerce  and  capital,  and  to 
Him  shall  be  given  of  the  gold  of  Sheba.     The 


6       THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

kings  of  Tarsliish  and  of  the  isles  shall  bring 
presents  and  lay  them  at  His  feet.  He  is  to 
be  made  King  in  the  realm  of  labour,  and 
toilers  everywhere  will  rejoice  to  bow  down 
to  the  great  Working  Man  of  Galilee.  He  is 
to  be  made  King  in  Zion.  All  differences  of 
sect  and  denomination,  all  dividing  lines  of 
name  and  creed,  will  disappear,  and  from 
shore  to  shore  the  worshipping  hosts  of 
earth  will  "  bring  forth  the  royal  diadem  and 
crown  Him  Lord  of  all."  I  am  not  over- 
drawing it,  but  falling  far  short  of  the 
glowing  predictions  contained  in  God's  Word. 
No  human  tongue  can  do  them  justice. 

And  this,  I  say,  is  our  work — to  make  Jesus 
King,  first  in  our  own  lives  and  then  in  the 
lives  of  others,  on  and  on,  until  all  shall  own 
His  gentle  sway.  If  this  is  not  our  work,  to 
make  Jesus  King,  we  should  stop  praying 
"  Thy  kingdom  come  "  and  expunge  the  Lord's 
Prayer  from  our  creed.  But  it  is  our  work. 
For  this  we  preach.  For  this  we  build  our 
churches.  For  this  we  organise  our  cam- 
paigns. For  this  we  maintain  our  boards  and 
send  out  our  missionaries.  For  this  we 
educate  and  evangelise.  And  what  a  purpose 
it  is  !  How  every  other  ambition  which  men 
can  cherish,  every  other  object  they  may  set 
before  them,  every  other  mark  they  may  aim 


THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   TIMES       7 

at  in  life,  pales  in  comparison  with  this ! 
God's  heart  is  in  it.  God's  honour  is  staked 
upon  its  realisation.  God's  power  is  pledged 
to  its  triumphant  accomplishment.  It  is 
inevitable  that  a  purpose  so  noble,  so  trans- 
cendent, so  Divine,  should  lift  and  transfigure 
and  glorify  those  who,  with  a  perfect  heart, 
devote  themselves  to  it. 

But  to  successfully  do  the  work  which  the 
proposed  enthronement  of  Jesus  involves,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  understanding  of  the  times. 
If  our  efforts  are  to  be  wisely  directed  and  the 
emphasis  of  our  activities  rightly  placed,  we 
must  know  the  drifts  and  currents  of  the 
world,  the  temper  of  the  age  in  which  we  live, 
the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  and  the  prob- 
lems to  be  solved.  Jesus  is  to  be  made  King. 
As  to  the  final  issue,  it  is  impossible  for 
Christian  men  and  women  to  doubt.  But 
that  is  a  very  stupid  and  hurtful  kind  of 
optimism  that  shuts  its  eyes  to  present  facts. 
Hope  should  not  be  blind.  I  have  gone  over 
the  mountains  enough  to  know  that  the  road 
to  the  top  of  the  range  sometimes  takes  a  dip 
into  the  valley,  Avhere  shadows  hang,  and 
wild  beasts  howl,  and  serpents  run  among  the 
rocks.  Whether  Israel  to-day  is  in  the  valley 
or  nearing  the  summit  every  man  will  judge 
for  himself,  according  to  his  temperament  and 


8       THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

point  of  view  ;    but    there  are  certain  drifts 
which  can  hardly  be  mistaken. 

Few  things  are  more  in  evidence  at  the 
present  time  than  the  unrest  of  the  masses. 
Their  discontent  increases.  Their  complaints 
grow  louder  and  louder.  Strikes  multiply. 
The  gulf  between  capital  and  labour  widens, 
and,  unless  some  solution  is  found,  it  is  not 
pleasant  to  think  what  the  outcome  is  likely 
to  be.  Nothing  on  the  horizon  at  this  hour  is 
more  significant  than  the  rising  power  of  the 
people.  The  era  of  the  common  man  has 
come.  Democracy  is  shaking  thrones  and 
compelling  attention  everywhere.  The  age- 
long mutterings  of  the  masses  have  found  a 
voice.  They  are  speaking,  and  both  Church 
and  State  are  deaf  if  they  do  not  hear.  This 
is  not  something  to  lament,  but  something  to 
thank  God  for,  serious  as  it  is.  The  dis- 
quietude of  the  labouring  millions  comes 
from  what  our  mothers  used  to  call  "grow- 
ing pains  "  ;  but  growth,  while  full  of  promise, 
is  also  full  of  peril.  The  French  Revolution 
was  a  growth.  It  came  from  the  swelling  of 
life — a  life  that  shattered  feudalism,  and 
overturned  the  throne,  and  broke  in  pieces 
old  tyrannies  and  old  institutionalisms,  and 
brought  clouds  and  darkness  and  desolation 
with  it  as  well  as  light.     Our  masses  to-day 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES       9 

are  pushing  to  the  front,  and  in  the  push  they 
are  not  stopping  to  concern  themselves  about 
who  is  elbowed  aside,  or  what  industries 
suffer,  or  what  establishments  go  down.  Of 
all  the  sovereigns  on  earth,  I  know  of  none 
more  to  be  feared  than  King  Demos. 

It  has  been  truly  said  by  one  of  the  most 
gifted  men  of  this  generation  that  Demos  is 
on  the  box-seat  and  the  master  has  to  be 
taken  where  the  driver  pleases.  In  former 
days  the  man  who  paid  the  piper  could  choose 
the  tune,  but  now  he  has  to  take  whatever 
tune  the  piper  elects  and  be  thankful  that  the 
trombone  is  not  thrown  at  his  head  as  a  finale. 
Unless  this  newly  risen  king  is  restrained  and 
mollified  and  made  reasonable  by  some  holy 
and  Divine  influence,  there  is  danger  that  he 
vrill  become  the  most  tyrannical,  the  most 
cruel  of  all  oppressors.  Already  he  scruples 
not  to  use  torch  and  knife  and  dynamite,  to 
burn  and  assassinate,  to  carry  out  his  pur- 
poses, and  having  got  a  taste  of  power,  it  is 
dreadful  to  think  of  the  lengths  to  which  he 
may  yet  go. 

Nothing  in  Europe  in  the  last  decade  has 
been  more  noteworthy  than  the  growth  of 
socialism.  It  has  come  to  be  a  tremendous 
force,  and  as  it  grows  religion  declines.  Says 
Professor  Vandervelde,  the  most  brilliant  and 


10     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

scholarly  of  all  the  socialist  leaders  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  "  Slowly,  but  surely, 
with  the  irresistible  movement  of  a  geological 
subsidence,  faith  is  waning  among  the  in- 
dustrial workers  and  among  the  peasants. 
...  In  Belgium,  in  France,  in  Germany,  the 
workmen  who  follow  no  particular  creed 
number  hundreds  of  thousands — yea  millions 
— and  as  their  hopes  of  a  heavenly  kingdom 
dissolve  other  hopes  assert  themselves  with 
growing  intensity."  In  this  country  also  the 
growth  of  socialism  is  rapid  enough  to  awaken 
apprehension  in  the  minds  of  all  thoughtful 
people. 

Now,  the  distressing  thing  about  it  all  is 
that  the  drift  of  the  masses  is  steadily  away 
from  organised  Christianity.  Not  only  are 
they  largely  alienated  from  the  Church,  but 
from  alienation  they  have  passed  to  animosity. 
No  longer  content  to  let  the  Church  alone, 
they  are  attacking  it,  and  reviling  it,  and 
stirring  up  hatred  against  it.  They  regard 
it,  not  as  their  friend,  but  as  their  enemy. 
They  complain  that  it  takes  sides  with  the 
strong  against  the  weak,  "with  the  rich  against 
the  poor,  with  those  who  are  up  against  those 
who  are  down.  They  complain  that  in  all 
their  struggles  for  a  larger,  fuller  and  more 
tolerable  life,  they  have  received  no  help  from 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     11 

the  Church  ;  and  hence  their  attitude  has 
hecome  one  of  bitterness  and  hostiHty.  How 
to  conciliate  these  masses,  how  to  take  away 
their  soreness  and  bring  about  a  better  under- 
standing, is  one  of  the  hardest  and  most 
important  problems  confronting  the  Church. 
Next  to  this,  one  can  but  note  the  drift  of 
the  people  in  general  away  from  lofty  ideals. 
it  is  something  that  should  give  us  pause 
w^hen  conservative  journals  and  conservative 
public  men  are  constrained  to  characterise 
this  as  an  "  age  of  graft."  Warnings  have 
recently  sounded  out  from  both  pulpit  and 
bench  against  the  money  madness  of  our 
times.  The  President  of  the  United  States, 
in  view  of  the  public  land  frauds  and  postal 
peculations,  has  been  forced  to  say  that 
"  Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  j)eople,  will  i)erish  from  the  earth 
if  bribery  is  tolerated."  A  distinguished  pre- 
late of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  declares 
that  of  all  our  sins  as  a  people  that  of  dis- 
honesty is  most  pronounced.  "  The  taint  of 
it,"  he  says,  "  is  everywhere,  from  the 
manipulation  of  stocks  to  the  adulteration 
of  food  and  drink ;  from  the  booming  of 
towns  and  lands  to  the  selling  of  votes  and 
the  buying  of  office ;  from  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress   to    the    policeman's    beat  ;    from    the 


12     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

capitalist  who  controls  trusts  and  syndicates 
to  the  mechanic  who  does  inferior  work.  It 
hangs  like  a  mephitic  air  about  our  news- 
papers, our  legislative  assemblies,  and  the 
municipal  government  of  our  towns  and 
cities." 

These  are  not  the  words  of  hot-headed 
alarmists,  but  of  men  who  have  eyes  to  see 
and  brains  to  think.  Our  ideals  of  honesty 
have  gone  down.  The  scramble  for  wealth 
has  become  a  menace  to  our  institutions  and 
our  liberties.  Only  let  us  have  quick  gains 
and  fat  dividends  and  not  be  too  squeamish 
about  fine  scruples.  Corner  the  market,  water 
the  stock,  pocket  the  bribe,  pinch,  squeeze, 
filch  from  the  green  and  gullible,  take  any 
road  to  the  land  of  riches — only  get  there. 
So  the  Puritan  conscience,  which  put  rock 
foundations  under  this  Republic,  is  gone,  or 
going,  and  in  its  place  has  come  the  canker  of 
fraud  and  knavishness.  Extravagant  notions 
of  life,  intemperate  thirst  for  amusement, 
inordinate  hunger  for  show  and  parade,  are 
driving  the  people  to  all  sorts  of  juggling  and 
sharp  practices  to  get  money. 

A  part  of  this  drift  is  the  fading  out  of 
conviction.  We  have  grown  broad  at  the 
expense  of  depth.  By  an  over-emphasis  of 
latitudinarianism     we     have    lost     intensity. 


THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     13 

Root  is  sacrificed  to  spreadth.  Solidity  is 
slain  on  the  altar  of  sentiment.  Men  are 
calling  themselves  tolerant,  when  they  are 
only  tepid ;  liberal,  when  they  are  only  luke- 
warm; charitable,  when  they  are  only  cold. 
There  is  no  end  of  froth-talk  in  rallies  and 
conventions  and  union  meetings  to  propitiate 
the  gallery  gods.  The  great  verities  of  time 
and  eternity  are  touched  lightly,  or  skipped 
altogether,  for  the  people  must  be  entertained. 
Too  often  the  most  popular  platform  speaker 
is  the  one  who  has  the  largest  fund  of  stories 
and  is  most  skilful  in  the  use  of  the  rattle. 
The  soiled  and  worn-out  books  in  all  of  our 
public  libraries  are  those  that  are  stuffed 
with  trash.  The  demand  for  works  that 
foam  and  effervesce,  that  abound  in  exciting 
situations,  that  overflow  with  gush  and 
doubtful  morals,  together  with  the  grinning 
cartoon,  the  spicery  of  the  stage  and  the 
yellow  journal,  indicates  the  drift. 

Linked  to  this,  its  fruitage  indeed,  is  the 
vanishing  sense  of  sin.  It  is  winked  at  and 
glossed  over  and  condoned.  There  are  no 
sinners  any  longer,  and  especially  in  the  high 
places  of  respectability.  If  there  are  any  lost 
people,  they  are  down  in  the  slums.  The  Ten 
Commandments  are  not  supposed  to  apply  any- 
where above  the  submerged  tenth.    Our  ideals 


14     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

of  the  home  have  gone  down.  We  talk  of 
Mormonism  and  affect  a  horror  of  it,  as  an 
unclean  and  loathsome  thing  ;  but  as  between 
a  system  that  allows  a  man  to  have  three  or 
four  ex-wives,  or  a  w^oman  to  have  three  or 
four  ex-husbands,  and  a  system  that  permits 
a  man  to  have  his  plural  wives  all  at  once, 
there  is  very  little  to  choose.  I  am  not  sure 
but  the  odds  are  on  the  side  of  the  Mormon. 
If  this  social  scourge  of  easy  divorce  con- 
tinues, it  will  call  down  upon  us  as  a  people 
the  curse  of  Almighty  God.  You  see  this 
lowering  of  ideals  as  to  the  home  in  another 
direction.  I  trust  it  will  not  seem  out  of 
place  to  speak  of  it  in  a  General  Assembly. 
Wives  are  taking  the  place  of  mothers. 
Childless  firesides  are  being  substituted  for 
family  circles.  The  flat  and  apartment  house 
and  the  club,  together  with  certain  social  and 
prudential  considerations,  are  robbing  our 
married  women  of  maternal  instincts  and 
ambitions.  It  is  the  ring  of  the  telephone 
and  not  the  cry  of  the  baby  that  we  hear 
nowadays.  One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  our 
modern  life  is  mothers. 

Such  is  the  drift  of  the  times  that  a  book 
like  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  with  its  tremendous 
moral  appeal,  would  probably  fall  flat  to-day. 
Fine  critics  would  in  all  likelihood  pronounce 


THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     15 

it  inartistic,  and  learned  reviewers,  dominated 
by  commercial  considerations,  would,  no  doubt, 
call  it  hysterical.  About  the  only  thing  that 
can  rouse  the  people  to  a  white  heat  now  is 
something  that  has  to  do  with  gain  and  money 
and  material  aggrandisement. 

Our  ideals  of  reverence  have  gone  down.  It 
is  awful  the  liberty  we  take  with  things  con- 
secrated and  venerated  for  ages.  We  laugh 
at  everything.  No  position,  no  office,  no  call- 
ing, no  relation  in  life  escapes  our  satire. 
Nothing  is  sacred.  The  family,  the  court,  the 
Church,  the  highest  and  holiest  things  are 
made  sport  of.  Whether  it  be  a  wedding  or 
a  funeral,  an  ordination  or  a  tragedy,  a  birth 
or  a  baptism,  we  find  something  to  grow 
funny  over.  It  is  the  cartoon  age  to  which 
we  have  come.  With  our  light  and  jaunty 
air,  with  our  flippant  handling  of  things 
sacred,  with  our  universal  irreverence,  we  are 
sowing  the  wind,  and  we  shall  reap  the  whirl- 
wind. A  laughing,  mocking,  cartooning  age, 
an  age  that  runs  to  lampooning  and  levitation, 
will  soon  run  to  the  devil.  A  tree  cannot 
stand  without  roots  ;  it  must  grip  the  solid 
and  substantial  if  it  is  to  resist  the  storm 
and  keep  its  branches  in  the  sky.  So  pre- 
cisely with  men  and  nations.  If  they  are 
not  rooted  in  profound  reverence  for  things 


16     THE   CHURCH  AND   THE   TIMES 

good  and  high  and  holy,  they  must  go 
down. 

With  this  fading  out  of  conviction  and  this 
lowering  of  ideals  it  is  little  wonder  that 
indifference  to  religion  should  be  so  pervading 
and  immovable.  The  world  has  no  monopoly 
of  it.  Says  an  English  writer:  "As  religion 
does  not  consume  the  lives  of  even  those  who 
go  to  church  on  Sundays,  what  does  it  amount 
to  in  the  mind  of  the  average  man  who  does 
not  believe  himself  an  unbeliever?"  The  vast 
majority  stay  away  from  God's  house,  not 
because  they  are  hostile  to  Christianity,  but 
because  they  have  ceased  to  have  any  interest 
in  it.  This  nerveless  unconcern  is  the  hardest 
of  all  things  to  deal  with.  It  is  comparatively 
easy  to  meet  an  avowed  enemy ;  his  position 
is  defined;  he  is  positive,  and  we  know  just 
where  to  find  him ;  but  what  can  be  done  with 
the  man  who  doesn't  care  ?  And  if  indifference 
on  the  outside  is  so  discouraging,  what  shall 
be  said  of  the  indifference  within  the  Church 
itself? 

Most  of  us,  I  think,  remember  how  that 
winter  in  Capua,  after  the  battle  of  Cannae, 
affected  Hannibal.  It  did  for  him  what  all 
the  hot  sons  of  Italy,  and  all  the  snows  of  the 
Alps,  and  all  the  treachery  of  the  Gauls,  and 
all  the  skill  and  valour  of  the  Romans  could 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   TIMES     17 

not  do.  So  long  as  he  kept  the  field  and  lived 
a  soldier's  life,  and  endured  hardness  and 
strenuously  devoted  himself  to  duty,  and 
maintained  the  strictest  discipline,  he  was 
invincible.  Victory  was  his  constant  com- 
panion. But  one  winter  in  Capua,  with  its 
ease  and  luxury  and  sumptuousness,  shore 
away  the  strength  of  that  mighty  Samson, 
and  left  him  weak  and  vulnerable  in  the 
hands  of  the  Roman  Delilah.  For  the  most 
part  the  Church  appears  to  be  wintering  in 
Capua,  and  to  be  losing,  in  luxurious  living 
and  in  barrack-room  enjoyments,  the  spirit  of 
the  old  heroisms  that  made  history.  Certainly 
one  looks  in  vain  for  any  general  enthusiasm. 
Far  away  in  Northern  Siberia  I  am  told  that 
they  serve  milk,  not  in  liquid,  but  in  frozen 
form ;  and  shall  I  be  unduly  severe  if  I  say 
that  in  too  many  of  our  Churches  the  milk  of 
the  Word  is  served  in  similar  fashion,  if, 
indeed,  it  is  served  at  all  ?  There  is  no  heat, 
no  fire,  no  passion,  nothing  but  the  shimmer 
of  a  light  that  chills.  Intellectual  coldblooded- 
ness is  in  the  fore,  and  under  its  opiate  effects 
the  people  .are  dozing  down  to  death. 

Add  to  all  this  a  decided  drift  toward  exter- 
nalism,  and  you  have  a  catalogue  of  conditions 
that  is  well-nigh  appalling.  From  the  outside 
in   rather  than    from   the   inside  out   is   the 

3 


18     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

tendency  of  the  times.  Vice  is  dealt  with  by 
a  policy  of  repression  rather  than  by  moral 
education  and  the  implanting  of  lofty  ideals. 
The  appeal  is  to  law  a  good  deal  more  than  to 
conscience.  Reformation  is  substituted  for 
regeneration.  Plasters  are  put  upon  the  skin 
for  poison  in  the  blood.  It  is  proposed  to  heal 
the  hurt  of  the  world  by  officialism  and  by 
congresses  and  conventions.  Let  us  tinker 
and  repair  and  cobble  and  fumigate  and  apply 
salves,  and  never  mind  about  the  interior 
springs  of  life.  Let  us  have  social  settlements 
and  neighbourhood  houses  and  catching  insti- 
tutional features,  and  lay  the  emphasis  upon 
environment,  and  the  rest  will  take  care  of 
itself.  Let  us  cleanse  the  turbid  stream  by 
laying  out  parks  and  planting  flowers  and 
building  beautiful  arbours  upon  its  banks. 

Thus  the  visible  bulks  vastly  larger  than 
the  invisible,  the  natural  than  the  super- 
natural. These  are  the  days  when  revivals 
are  "  worked  up."  Programmes  and  printer's 
ink  count  for  more  than  prayers.  The 
machine  is  invoked  rather  than  the  Master. 
Noise  and  novelties  and  platform  displays  are 
esteemed  more  important  than  the  quiet  open- 
ing of  the  heart  to  the  forces  of  the  skies. 
Give  us  great  meetings,  great  singing,  great 
crowds,   great    demonstrations ;   let  us   have 


THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     19 

wind,  earthquake,  and  fire,  and  something  is 
supposed  to  be  done.  But  they  pass  and  leave 
results  that  are  most  disappointing.  The 
mountain  has  laboured  and  brought  forth  a 
little  mouse.  The  rush  of  the  wheel  and  the 
din  of  the  mill  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
grist.  What  we  are  constantly  tempted  to 
overlook  is  the  vital  fact  that  it  is  "  not  by 
might,  not  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith 
the  Lord." 

Now,  I  have  not  touched  upon  these  drifts 
and  conditions  to  depress  and  dishearten. 
God  forbid.  This  is  not  a  dirge  or  a  jeremiad. 
I  am  beating  a  charge.  We  have  the  same 
Cross  and  the  same  Gospel  with  which  the 
early  apostles  overcame  the  world.  To  an 
age  sunk  in  pleasure,  steeped  in  sin,  dead  in 
conscience,  and  bankrupt  in  spiritual  life  they 
went  forth  and  they  conquered.  The  Christ 
that  panoplied  them  and  gave  them  victory 
can  do  the  same  thing  for  us.  We  have  ten- 
fold more  reason  to  be  optimistic  than  they 
had.  I  have  only  sought  to  indicate  where  I 
think  the  emphasis  of  our  work  should  be 
laid.  In  our  Christian  warfare,  as  in  every 
other,  if  the  enemy  is  to  be  dislodged  and  his 
strongholds  broken  down,  our  artillery  must 
be  rightly  aimed.  While  I  believe  my 
diagnosis   is    true    to    fact   as   far   as   it  has 


20     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

gone,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express  the  con- 
viction that  the  times  are  ripe  for  a  revival 
such  as  has  rarely  been  witnessed  in  the 
history  of  the  Church.  The  darkest  hour  is 
just  before  the  dawn.  No  storm  ever  comes 
with  such  clarifying  power  as  the  one  that 
comes  after  the  deadest  calm.  The  world  is 
growing  weary  of  its  follies.  Thousands  are 
getting  tired  of  a  mere  yardstick  and  market- 
place and  amusement-seeking  kind  of  a  life, 
and  are  hungering  for  the  bread  which  cometh 
down  from  heaven.  Only  let  the  right  woixi 
be  spoken  in  the  right  way,  and  with  the 
right  spirit,  and  the  people  will  respond.  In 
view,  then,  of  prevailing  conditions — 

What  ought  Israel  to  do  ? 

It  seems  perfectly  clear  that  something 
more  must  be  done  than  has  yet  been  at- 
tempted to  reach  the  masses.  Wliatever 
we  may  say  about  the  sores  of  Lazarus,  they 
are  there,  full  of  the  poison  of  false  theories 
and  doctrinaire  remedies,  and  unless  an 
antidote  is  found,  that  which  one  of  his  own 
poets  predicts  may  come  to  fulfilment : 
"  For  the  Snow  King  " — and  the  Snow  King 
here  is  the  people — 

"  For  the  Snow  King,  asleep  at  the  fountam, 
Shall  wake  in  the  summer's  hot  breath, 
And  descend  in  his  rage  from  the  mountain, 
Bringing  terror,  destruction,  and  death." 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     21 

It  is  a  tremendous  figure,  and  shows  where 
the   thoughts   of  the   leaders   run.     For  this 
soreness   of   Lazarus   Dives    has   no   remedy. 
PoKtical    economy    has    none,    sociahsm    has 
none.      There     are     nostrums     enough,     but 
nothing  that  will  heal.     If  Lazarus   is   to  be 
saved  from  his  poison,  if  he  is  to  rise  to  the 
level  of  the   manhood  that  is  his  birthright, 
he  must  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  him  in 
sympathy    and    love.     You    cannot    get    the 
poison   out   of   a   man   by   external    agencies 
and   devices.     It   is   poor   business   trying   to 
clean   out   the  well    by   painting   the   pump, 
or  to  sweeten  the  city's  water  by  decorating 
the  hydrant.     Wake  up  the  springs  of  justice, 
inspire    the    interior     life     with     noble    and 
unselfish    purpose,     introduce    the    mind     of 
Christ,  and  the  virus  will  give  place  to  virtue, 
bitterness   to   blessing.     The   only   remedy  is 
the   Gospel,  platitudinous   as   the   suggestion 
may    seem.     The    Church,    like    her    Master, 
must   have   compassion   upon  the  multitude, 
must  feel  the   sorrows   and  hardships  which 
they  feel,   and   by  ways   that  are   new,  even 
odd  and  unconventional,  or  startling,  if  you 
please,   take   the   Cross    to    the   men   of    the 
shop  and  mill  and  mine  and  factory.     By  tent 
work,   by   open-air    meetings,   by   gatherings 
in    down-town    halls,    by    the    great-hearted 


22     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE   TIMES 

inventiveness  of  a  Divine  philanthropy — in 
some  way  or  other  we  must  go  out  into 
the  highways  and  hedges,  out  into  the  streets 
and  lanes  of  the  city,  out  to  these  struggling 
brother  men  of  ours,  and,  by  a  kindness  that 
is  patient  and  tender  and  persistent,  compel 
them  to  hear  the  story  of  the  Crucified. 

Then  it  is  no  less  clear  that  something  must 
be  done  to  tone  up  the  moral  sense  of  the 
people  in  general.  A  restoration  of  ethical 
ideals  is  imperatively  needed.  Let  conscience 
go  down,  and  nothing  is  safe  ;  let  it  go  up 
and  every  interest  of  society  is  secure.  And 
how  shall  the  moral  sense  be  quickened  and 
made  responsive  to  the  skies  ?  I  am  not 
here  to  find  fault  with  our  public  schools 
and  State  universities.  Within  the  limita- 
tions set  for  them  by  their  heterogeneous 
constituency  they  are  doing  excellent  work 
indeed.  But  after  all  our  eulogies  have  been 
spoken,  the  fact  remains  that  they  do  not 
touch  the  deep  places  of  the  moral  Nature. 
Their  work  does  not,  as  a  rule,  include 
anything  positive  in  the  way  of  religion, 
and  all  history  shows  that  morality  without 
religion  can  have  neither  root  nor  hfe. 

Our  system  of  public  education  deals  with 
conscience  rather  by  indirection  than  by 
intention,  by  negative   influence  rather  than 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     23 

by  positive  inspiration,  deals  with  it  on  the 
side  and  incidentally,  instead  of  making  its 
development  the  main  consideration.  What 
I  insist  upon  is  that  conscience  cannot  be 
kept  awake  and  made  sensitive  and  quick 
to  perform  its  functions  unless  the  nurture 
and  training  of  it  be  entered  upon  as  a 
serious  business,  and  to  undertake  this 
without  invoking  the  aid  of  religion  is  absurd. 
Deal  ivith  conscience  as  something  apart, 
something  secondary  and  subordinate,  and 
it  will  inevitably  yield  to  the  lower  forces  of 
life  anc  allow  them  to  crowd  it  to  the  rear. 
I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  there 
can  be  no  conscience  of  any  vitality  and 
vigour  that  does  not  feed  at  the  breast  of 
religion.  When  ancient  Rome  laughed  at 
her  gods  and  suffered  her  altar  fires  to  go 
out,  her  morality  became  worm-eaten  with 
corruption  and  she  collapsed  beneath  the 
weight  oi  her  own  vices.  Hence  Israel  ought 
to  give  immensely  more  heed  to  the  cause 
of  Christian  education.  This  is  really  one 
of  the  ni3st  imperative  duties  of  the  hour. 
Both  the  growth  of  the  Church  and  the  sta- 
bility of  the  State  demand  it.  Our  Christian 
colleges  slould  be  made  vastly  more  efficient 
and  attractive  and  others  should  be  estab- 
lished at  strategic  points.     This  applies  with 


24     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

special  force  to  us  as  Presbyterians.  In 
former  years  we  were  proud  of  our  record 
as  an  educating  Church,  and  we  had  a  right 
to  be ;  but  when  we  consider  our  great 
wealth  to-day  and  consider  how  we  have  been 
far  out-distanced  in  the  work  of  Christian 
education  by  other  and  weaker  denomina- 
tions, we  are  humiliated.  We  are  compelled 
to  write  Ichabod  upon  our  banners,  for  our 
glory  has  departed.  Our  whole  system  of 
denominational  education  needs  to  be  reor- 
ganised and  revitalised. 

Certainly  our  work  for  young  people  in 
the  Church  and  our  standards  of  Sunday- 
school  teaching  should  be  greatly  improved. 
Above  all  there  should  be  a  decided  revival  of 
religion  in  the  home.  A  rebuilding  oi  family 
altars,  a  restoration  of  the  priesthood  of 
the  fireside,  more  prayer  and  more  Christian 
instruction  in  the  nursery — we  mist  have 
these  if  conscience  is  to  be  elevited  and 
enthroned  in  the  lives  of  the  people.  *  Pro  arts 
et  focis "  ("  For  our  altars  and  our  hearths") 
was  the  old  Roman  war-cry.  It  called  out  all 
their  courage,  all  their  love,  all  their  deter- 
mination. Happy  were  it  for  America  if  this 
also  were  our  war-cry,  for  onlf  as  the 
Republic  rests  upon  these  two,  the  altar  and 
the  home,  can  it  be  secure. 


THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   TIMES     25 

Israel  ought  to  strengthen  the  moral  con- 
victions of  the  people,  lead  them  away  from 
the  shallows  into  the  depths ;  and  how  is 
this  to  be  done?  Certainly  not  by  shading 
away  the  truth  and  making  things  easy. 
Stalwart  souls  are  not  made  by  smooth 
programmes.  The  great  doctrines  of  sin  and 
redemption  should  be  rung  out  with  no 
mistakable  accent.  We  have  had  enough 
of  invertebrate  sentimentalism,  enough  of 
inflated  speculation,  enough  of  the  exploita- 
tion of  newspaper  topics,  enough  of  man's 
wisdom.  Now  let  us  get  back  to  the  wisdom 
of  God — back  to  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified;  back  to  those  fundamental  truths 
of  the  Gospel  that  won  every  victory  of 
the  Church  in  the  past;  that  made  Huguenot 
and  Covenanter  and  Puritan,  and  put  the 
granite  beneath  all  that  is  best  in  our 
civilisation,  and  that  will  win  all  the  victories 
of  the  Church  in  the  future.  Nothing  but 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  can  produce  the 
conviction  needed  by  our  times,  and  nothing 
but  conviction  can  invest  men  with  con- 
quering power  and  give  them  the  keys. 

So  of  the  prevalent  indifference,  and  the 
shocking  irreverence  and  the  tendency  to 
rest  in  externalism.  These  conditions  which 
I   have  touched   upon   rise  up  before  us  like 


26     THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

mountain  barriers.  Sometimes  in  our  human 
weakness  we  look  upon  them  and  are 
discouraged.  But  even  mountain  barriers 
may  be  overcome  and  made  to  yield  the 
greatest  riches  of  all.  What  is  needed  to 
penetrate  them  and  thread  them  with  the 
highways  of  the  kingdom,  and  write  upon 
their  gold  and  silver  the  image  and  super- 
scription of  God,  is  a  heaven-born,  thorough- 
going, unremitting  evangelism.  Give  the 
people  the  Gospel  and  give  it  to  them  without 
apology.  Give  it  to  them  without  frills  and 
without  platitudes.  Give  it  to  them  with 
all  the  earnestness  of  men  who  realise  that 
they  are  engaged  in  rescue  work.  Give  it 
to  them  straight.  Give  it  to  them  in  love. 
Preach  to  men  as  sinners  whether  they  live 
on  the  avenue  or  in  the  slum.  Preach  to 
them  tenderly  as  the  lost  whom  Jesus  came 
to  save.  Let  us  take  the  dryness  out  of 
our  sermons  with  tears  as  Paul  did.  Only 
let  there  be  tremendous  conviction  in  the 
pulpit,  and  conviction  will  show  itself  in 
the  pew,  conscience  will  rise  again  from  the 
dead,  the  cause  of  Christian  education  will 
awake,  a  holy,  uplifting  reverence  will 
return,  indifference  will  kindle  into  zeal, 
externalism  will  be  burned  away  by  fires 
jflaming  up  from   the   interior,  the  poor  will 


THE   CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES     27 

have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them,  and  the 
early  triumphs  of  the  Cross  will  be  repeated. 
The  spirit  of  a  true  evangelism  is  the  spirit 
of  God.  It  is  Pentecost  continued.  Only 
let  this  spirit  rise  in  the  Church,  and  it 
will  overflow  into  education,  into  benevo- 
lence, into  missions,  into  union  and  co- 
operation, into  the  whole  field  of  practical 
aggressive  Christianity,  and  turn  again  our 
captivity  as  the  spring  sun  lets  loose 
the  streams  in  the  mountains,  and  sends 
them  down  to  make  glad  the  plains 
below. 

But  to  do  all  these  things  and  change  these 
drifts  Israel  should  cast  about  for  great 
leadership.  In  the  strenuous,  driving,  intense 
life  of  these  times  the  mediocre  must  go  to 
the  rear.  Business,  literature,  politics,  the 
professions,  none  of  these  will  have  him.  The 
days  are  too  eager.  Everything  is  heated, 
molten.  The  earth  trembles  beneath  the  feet 
of  a  thousand  energies.  This  is  no  time  for 
incompetents.  Along  every  line  the  call  is  for 
ability,  for  men  not  only  who  can  think  and 
plan,  but  who  can  execute.  And  still  more  is 
ability  needed  in  the  ministry.  It  is  the  last 
place  on  earth  for  a  third-rate  man.  Men 
mighty  in  leadership,  splendidly  proficient,  fit 
for  the  battle,  were  the  kind  that  made  David 


28     THE   CHURCH  AND  TH^  TIMES 

king  at   Hebron ;  and  they  are   the  sort   to 
enthrone  the  Son  of  God. 

But  Israel  has  been  too  slow  to  sec  it.  The 
Church  has  not  been  careful  enough  to  select 
men  of  strength,  men  of  real  power,  men  with 
faces  like  the  faces  of  lions  to  engage  in  the 
transcendent  work  of  making  Jesus  king.  It 
is  poor  policy  to  put  a  lame  man  in  the  pulpit 
to  preach  to  laden  people  in  the  pews.  What 
Israel  needs  to  hasten  the  crowning  of  our 
Lord  by  human  society  is  leaders  both  in  the 
laity  and  ministry ;  men  of  consecration  plus 
capability  ;  men  with  vastly  more  than  the 
permission  of  Presbytery  to  qualify  them  for 
service ;  men  with  courage  enough  to  be 
themselves  and  yet  with  sanity  enough  to 
avoid  the  eccentric  and  the  sensational  as 
they  would  avoid  the  pestilence  that  walketh 
in  darkness ;  men  in  spirit,  in  heroism,  in 
conscious  ability,  and  in  sublime  devotion  to 
duty,  like  the  Gordon  Highlanders.  Certain 
tribes  in  India  were  up  in  rebellion.  To  put 
them  down  it  became  necessary  to  storm  the 
heights  of  Dargai.  They  occupied  a  hill  one 
thousand  feet  high,  covered  with  steep  rocks. 
There  was  but  one  path,  along  which  the 
soldiers  of  Britain  must  pass  in  single  file. 
The  Gordon  Highlanders  were  detailed  for 
the  perilous  work.     Their  qualities  were  well 


THE   CHURCH  AND  THE   TIMES     29 

known,  and  so  the  General  said  :  "  Men  of  the 
Gordon  Highlanders,  that  position  must  be 
taken  at  all  costs  ;  "  and  without  a  moment's 
hesitation  the  answer  came  back,  "The 
Gordon  Highlanders  will  take  it."  In  re- 
sponse to  the  simple  appeal  of  duty,  and 
proud  of  the  stuff  that  was  in  them,  they 
charged  up  the  heights  in  the  face  of  a 
terrific  fire  and  swept  everything  before 
them.  Men  of  that  mettle  and  quality  are 
always  irresistible. 

I  believe  the  Church  is  ready  to  be  appealed 
to,  ready  to  answer,  anxious  to  be  directed. 
What  she  is  waiting  for  is  men  to  say 
"  Forward,"  and  when  the  right  kind  of  men 
say  it,  she  will  go  forward,  though  the  Red 
Sea  and  the  wilderness  lie  in  her  path.  Much 
is  said  about  the  falling  off  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry  ;  but  perhaps  the  ministry  needs 
sifting  even  more  than  it  needs  recruiting. 
For  this  calling  it  is  not  enough  to  be  good  ; 
we  must  have  men  of  might  who  know  how 
to  handle  buckler  and  shield  and  make  the 
most  of  the  weapons  with  which  God  has 
furnished  them.  Not  more  of  us,  brethren  ; 
that  is  not  the  greatest  need ;  but  a  better 
brand  of  us. 

In  thus  indicating  some  of  the  drifts  of  the 
times  and  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way 


30     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  TIMES 

of  Christian  progress,  and  in  venturing  to 
point  out  what  Israel  ought  to  do,  I  have 
spoken  in  no  pessimistic  mood.  The  Lord's 
army  is  not  sounding  a  retreat.  The  forces 
of  Zion  have  no  notion  of  striking  their 
colours.  Our  rejected  King  is  on  the  way  to 
His  crowning.  Notwithstanding  all  I  have 
said,  and  all  that  can  be  said  on  that  side, 
the  tides  of  goodness  are  rising.  This  is  God's 
world  and  God  will  have  it.  There  are  clouds 
in  the  sky  a  good  deal  bigger  than  a  man's 
hand,  and  it  is  no  part  of  wisdom  or  of  duty 
to  close  our  eyes  to  them.  Iniquity  abounds. 
Crime  stalks  through  the  land.  Mobocracy 
mocks  at  justice.  Irreverence  grins  in  the 
face  of  God.  Mammon  grinds.  Shylock 
demands  his  pound  of  flesh  Lust  invades 
the  sanctuaries  of  virtue.  Easy  divorce 
undermines  the  home.  This  is  certainly  no 
time  for  an  easy-going  optimism  to  rest 
upon  its   oars   and  say,  "All  is  well." 

But  far  less  is  it  a  time  for  croaking  doubt 
and  pessimistic  fear.  Jesus  Christ  is  march- 
ing on.  Truth  is  overcoming  error.  Virtue 
is  outrunning  vice.  Light  is  spreading. 
Christianity  is  in  the  ascendent.  To-day, 
after  all  the  centuries  of  criticism  and  attack, 
after  scepticism  and  unbelief  have  done  their 
utmost,   after    the    strength   of    materialistic 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   TIMES    31 

rationalism  has  become  exhausted — to-day,  at 
the  very  centre  of  all  our  culture  and  glory, 
in  the  midst  of  all  our  systems  and  philoso- 
phies, of  all  our  engines  and  telegraphs  and 
inventions — nay,  not  only  in  the  midst,  but 
supreme  above  them  all,  gradually  winning 
the  homage  and  love  of  men,  walks  the 
Christ,  and  with  a  gentleness  that  cannot  be 
expressed,  and  a  power  that  cannot  be 
resisted,  and  a  majesty  that  cannot  be  de- 
scribed, is  moving  towards  His  coronation.  I 
look  out  through  the  mists  of  the  future  and 
I  see  Him  coming.  I  hear  Him  in  the  unrest 
of  the  masses.  If  the  industrial  world  is 
yeasting  and  fermenting,  Christ  is  the  leaven 
in  the  lump.  The  principles  of  the  Cross  are 
working.  I  see  Him  in  the  movement  for 
Church  union,  and  hear  His  prayer  "  that  they 
all  may  be  one,"  growing  louder  and  more 
passionate  as  the  days  slip  by. 

Out  through  the  darkness  and  the  confusion 
and  the  clash  of  a  thousand  interests  I  see 
Him — see  Him  treading  the  waves  of  the 
world's  battling  deep,  moving  upon  the  face 
of  our  social  and  national  waters,  walking  in 
the  greatness  of  His  strength,  on  the  way 
to  His  enthronement.  By  and  by  some  later 
generation,  bringing  in  the  last  trophies  of 
our   Conquering   King,   will   pass   the  enrap- 


32     THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   TIMES 

turing  word  along  the  whole  line  of  redeemed 
humanity,  and  a  great  multitude  of  all  nations 
and  kindreds  and  tongues  will  take  up  the 
shout,  "  Hallelujah !  for  the  Lord  God  omni- 
potent reigneth.  Hallelujah !  The  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 


THE  MISSING  NOTE  IN  MODERN 
PREACHING 


THE  MISSING    NOTE   IN  MODERN 
PREACHING  * 

"  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost." — Luke  xix.  10. 

"  As  Thou  hast  sent  Me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I 
sent  them  into  the  world." — John  xvii.  18. 

HERE  in  these  two  passages  we  have 
concisely  stated  Christ's  mission  and 
ours,  if  we  are  His  followers.  He  tells  us 
that  He  came  to  save  lost  men,  and  that 
what  He  came  to  do  we  are  to  continue. 
Words  can  make  nothing  clearer.  But  this 
evangelistic  purpose  the  Church  in  our  day 
has  too  much  lost  sight  of.  It  has  not 
been  persistent  and  persuasive  in  its  pleadings 
with  men  to  give  up  their  sins  and  lay  hold 
of  Jesus  Christ  for  salvation.  Dr.  Ian  Mac- 
laren  declared  two  or  three  years  ago  that 
this  is  the  missing  note  in  the  pulpits  of 
the  present  day.  The  preaching  of  our  times 
is    intellectual  ;     it    is    what    we    sometimes 

*  Delivered  before  the  Bible  Conference  at  Winona  Lake, 
Indiana,  in  August,  1903. 

35 


36  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

mistakenly  call  up-to-date  ;  it  exploits  ques- 
tions of  the  hour ;  it  is  newspaperish ;  it 
deals  with  current  problems  and  issues  and 
views  and  speculations,  with  things  that  are 
thrown  to  the  surface,  with  the  flotsam 
and  jetsam  that  float  about  upon  the  wave, 
rather  than  with  the  great,  deep,  spiritual 
realities  that  underlie  all  life  and  all  conduct, 
and  that  determine  what  personal  character 
and  human  society  shall  be. 

The  reason  why  the  early  apostles  turned 
the  world  upside  down,  the  reason  why 
the  reformers  were  so  mighty,  the  reason 
why  the  Wesleys  started  a  ground-swell  of 
power  that  is  still  rolling  across  the  earth,  was 
because  they  preached  to  men  as  sinners  and 
urged  them  with  burning  tongues  and  lips 
of  fire  to  flee  to  the  refuge  of  the  Cross. 
They  were  irresistible  because  they  dealt, 
not  with  transient  phases  of  life,  but  with 
the  great  central  and  eternal  facts.  It  was 
not  questions  of  the  hour  with  them,  but 
questions  of  the  ages,  not  events  of  the 
passing  day,  talked  about  in  the  club  and 
on  the  street  corner,  but  matters  that  dipped 
away  into  the  eternities.  They  sounded  out 
the  everlasting  Gospel  and  brought  to  the 
people  a  message  as  deep  as  the  heart  of  God. 

For  a  good  many  years,  it  has  to  be  con- 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  37 

fessed,  this  old  note  of  Calvary  has  been 
too  feebly  heard,  or  missing  altogether.  For 
the  explanation  of  it  we  must  turn  to  criti- 
cism, to  sacerdotalism,  to  pride  of  intellect, 
to  growing  wealth  and  worldliness,  to  mate- 
rialism, to  the  persistent  tendency  in  man 
to  stop  with  forms,  and  to  various  other 
causes.  But  now,  thank  God,  all  signs  go 
to  show  that  we  are  at  the  dawning  of  a 
new  era,  that  the  missing  note  of  evangelism 
is  coming  back  and  is  soon  to  head  the  whole 
chorus  of  modern  Christianity  in  ringing  out 
the  grand  music  of  the  Gospel.  Evidences 
are  multiplying  that  the  Church  is  tired 
of  what  is  negative,  sick  of  criticism  and 
speculation,  and  is  hungering  for  the  positive, 
the  aggressive,  the  real.  Not  sentiment,  but 
service ;  not  subjective  theorising,  but  objec- 
tive fact ;  not  an  academic  or  a  lecture-room 
atonement  discussed  in  leading  articles  and 
theological  reviews,  but  an  atonement  as 
real  as  Calvary  and  filled  with  all  the  saving 
efficacy  of  the  Christ  who  died  there — this 
is  what  the  Church  is  beginning  to  long 
for.  It  is  beginning  to  cry  out  once  more 
for  preachers  to  stand  in  the  pulpit  with 
the  message  of  God — preachers  to  rebuke 
men  boldly  for  their  sins  in  the  name  of 
the   Lord — preachers   to   assure  the   penitent 


38  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

of  Divine  mercy — preachers  to  declare  with 
confidence  that  Christ  has  finished  the  work 
of  salvation,  and  to  offer  that  salvation 
without  money  and  without  price  to  all 
who  believe.  For  the  breaking  of  this  new 
day  many  have  been  longing  and  praying, 
and  now  that  they  see  its  light  along  the 
east  they  thank  God  and  take  courage. 

At  our  late  meeting  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly nothing  was  so  pronounced  as  the  spirit 
of  evangelism.  With  services  in  the  interests 
of  this  great  cause  the  Assembly  began,  and 
with  similar  services  it  ended.  Between  these 
two  banks  all  its  currents  ran  and  all  its 
work  was  done.  Nothing  like  it  has  ever 
been  witnessed  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 
Our  last  meeting  was  a  tremendous  throng 
of  four  thousand  people  gathered  in  Hazard's 
pavilion  to  listen  to  evangelistic  addresses. 
From  this  meeting  the  multitudes  overflowed 
to  the  little  plaza  across  the  street  where 
men  of  power  spoke  to  them  in  the  name 
of  Jesus.  Commissioners  said  to  one  another 
with  profound  joy  and  thanksgiving,  "  This 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  our 
beloved  Church."  It  was  felt  that  the  evan- 
gelistic influences  of  that  day  and  of  that 
Assembly  would  go  out  into  all  the  land. 
Once  a  year,  at  Easter,  the  Patriarch  of  the 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  39 

Greek  Church  goes  down  into  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre at  Jerusalem.  Breathless,  great  crowds 
await  his  return.  Finally  he  emerges  from 
the  gloom  with  a  lighted  torch  lighted  by 
the  tapers  for  ever  burning  in  that  holy 
place.  Eagerly  the  people  press  around  him 
to  light  their  torches,  and  having  lighted 
them,  away  they  go,  bearing  the  sacred 
flame,  throughout  the  country.  So  our  minis- 
ters and  elders  returned  from  the  General 
Assembly  to  scatter  the  fires  of  evangelism 
from  sea  to  sea  and  to  send  them  far  away 
into  the  regions  beyond. 

1.  First  of  all  let  us  be  very  clear  as  to 
what  evangelism  is.  The  word  itself  reveals 
its  significance.  It  means  the  preaching  of 
good  news,  and  that  good  news  is  the  offer 
of  salvation  from  sin  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  To  criticise,  to  deal  in  negations, 
to  speculate  and  theorise,  to  indulge  in  ethical 
platitudes,  to  scintillate  with  literary  bril- 
liants set  in  religious  framework,  to  conduct 
solemn  and  dignified  Church  services — none 
nor  all  of  these  is  evangelism.  Jesus  gave 
us  the  very  essence  of  it  when  He  said,  "  For 
the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost."  No  pulpit  is  evangelical 
that  does  not  set  before  it  that  programme 
and   faithfully    endeavour    to    carry    it    out. 


40  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

If  it  has  no  good  news  to  tell,  no  salvation 
to  offer,  to  those  who  are  lying  under  the 
burden  of  human  misery,  to  those  who  are 
feeding  among  the  swine,  to  those  who  are 
in  bondage  to  sin  in  avenue  and  slum  alike, 
to  those  who  are  wounded  and  thirsting  and 
despairing  by  the  waysides  of  life,  however 
orthodox  it  may  be,  it  lacks  the  vital,  the 
inspiring,  the  uplifting  thing  that  always 
accompanies  evangelism. 

Evangelism — I  will  tell  you  what  it  is. 
It  is  God's  love  seeking  lost  men.  It  is 
John  iii.  16  :  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  It  is  the  Good  Shep- 
herd in  the  fifteenth  of  Luke,  leaving  the 
ninety  and  nine,  and  going  after  that  which 
was  lost — going  through  thorns  and  briers,  go- 
ing where  the  wolf  howls  and  the  wild  beast 
has  his  lair,  going  over  rock  and  crag,  over 
torrent  and  river,  over  steep  places,  with 
blistered  feet  and  torn  garments — how  far? 
How  long?  Until  He  find  it.  On  He  goes, 
and  on,  through  bog  and  swamp,  through 
tangle  and  thicket — until  He  find  it. 

•'  But  none  of  the  ransomed  ever  knew 
How  deep  were  the  waters  crossed, 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  41 

Nor  how  dark  was  the  night  that  the  Lord  passed 

through 
Ere  He  found  His  sheep  that  was  lost. 
Out  in  the  desert  He  heard  its  cry — 
Sick  and  helpless  and  ready  to  die." 

In  response  to  that  cry,  perhaps  not  framed 
into  syllables,  perhaps  not  heard  by  mortal 
ears,  but  sounding  down  in  the  solitudes  of 
the  soul.  He  is  still  crossing  the  deep  waters 
and  still  passing  through  the  dark  night, 
seeking  to  save.  Such  is  the  evangelism  of 
Christ,  and  such  should  be  the  evangelism 
of  all  who  bear  His  name. 

Evangelism  is  obedience  to  our  Lord  ;  it 
is  carrying  out  the  great  commission.  His 
last  word  to  His  disciples  before  He  ascended 
was,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature " — which  was 
precisely  the  same  thing  as  saying,  "  Go 
evangelise."  Hence  evangelism  is  the  spirit 
which  says,  "Here  am  I,  O  Lord,  send  me." 
It  is  Paul,  eager  to  go  any^vhere,  to  suffer 
any  hardship,  to  be  all  things  to  all  men 
that  by  all  means  he  might  save  some.  It 
is  John  Knox  crying  out,  "  Give  me  Scotland 
or  I  die."  It  is  Livingstone  dying  on  his 
knees  for  Africa.  It  is  John  G.  Paton  giving 
his  life  for  the  cannibals  of  the  New  Hebrides. 
In  one  word,  evangelism  is  Jesus  who  came 


42  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost 
continued  in  His  followers.  It  is  the  fountain- 
head  of  Christianity,  the  source  from  which 
all  its  growth,  all  its  conquest,  all  its  enlarge- 
ment proceed.  Evangelism  is  to  our  religion 
what  our  mines  and  farms  and  forests  are 
to  commerce.  It  furnishes  the  raw  material 
out  of  which  all  Christian  expansion  and 
civilisation  are  produced.  If  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  to  come  on  earth,  men  and  w^omen 
from  the  world  must  be  brought  under  the 
King's  sway,  recruits  from  the  ranks  of  sin  and 
unbelief  must  be  led  to  the  Saviour,  the  lost 
sheep  must  be  saved — and  that  is  evangelism. 
So  that  to  sneer  at  this  movement,  or  to 
make  light  of  it,  or  to  ignore  it  as  a  phase 
of  fanaticism,  is  as  though  the  furniture 
man  should  despise  the  wood-chopper,  or 
the  house-builder  despise  the  quarryman, 
or  the  manufacturer  of  coin  despise  the 
gold  and  silver  miner,  or  the  dealer  in  woollen 
goods  despise  the  sheep-raiser.  That  is 
certainly  a  very  strange  kind  of  wisdom 
that  pours  contempt  upon  sources  of  supply. 
As  well  might  the  broad  river  sneer  at  the 
little  mountain  rills,  or  the  flour  mill  sneer 
at  the  reaper  in  the  wheat  fields,  as  for 
people  in  the  Church  or  out  of  the  Church 
to  sneer  at  evangelism. 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  43 

2.  And  this  leads  me  to  speak  of  its  need. 
That  the  Church  cannot  grow  by  simply 
turning  its  own  wheels  goes  without  saying. 
There  can  be  no  extension  of  Christianity 
unless  there  is  encroachment  upon  the  world. 
Outsiders  must  be  laid  hold  of  and  converted 
into  insiders  if  religion  is  not  to  remain  at 
a  standstill.  No  country  is  ever  invaded 
and  conquered  by  an  army  whose  soldiers 
do  nothing  but  mark  time.  There  must  be 
aggression  if  there  is  to  be  conquest.  These, 
of  course,  are  elementary  facts,  but  it  will 
not  do  to  overlook  them.  Your  brick  manu- 
factory out  there  on  the  hillside  is  not 
more  necessary  to  the  building  of  houses 
and  the  extension  of  the  city  than  evangelism 
is  necessary  to  the  growth  of  the  Church. 

There  are  people  sometimes  calling  them- 
selves Christians  who  are  most  unsparing  in 
their  criticism  of  evangelists.  They  laugh  at 
their  pleadings  and  attack  their  programmes 
and  regard  their  methods  \yith  scorn  and 
contempt.  They  have  no  use  for  them, 
and  to  invite  them  into  a  community  meets 
with  their  unqualified  disapproval.  Because 
the  work  of  evangelism  has  been  abused ; 
because  adventurers  and  impostors  and 
shrewd  professionals  have  occasionally  made 
use  of  it  to  promote  their  own  advantage ; 


44  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

because  by  foolish  leadership  it  has  now 
and  then  done  harm,  some  dignified  Chvirch 
members  and  Church  officers  have  condemned 
it  altogether.  But  that  extreme  is  just  as  un- 
wise and  just  as  much  to  be  discountenanced 
and  denounced  as  the  other.  Philip  did 
not  give  up  evangelising  because  Simon  the 
sorcerer  sought  to  turn  the  business  into  a 
scheme  for  money-making.  In  spite  of  the 
abuses  of  Simon  he  went  right  on  preaching 
the  Gospel  and  saving  men  Avith  greater 
earnestness  than  ever.  Paul  did  not  stop 
evangelising  because  the  seven  sons  of  Sceva 
tried  to  imitate  him,  evidently  for  selfish 
purposes.  Moses  and  Aaron  did  not  abandon 
their  work  of  seeking  deliverance  for  the 
IDeople  because  the  magicians  of  Egypt  did 
also  in  like  manner  with  their  enchantments. 
It  is  the  worst  kind  of  folly  to  allow  the 
abuse  of  a  thing  to  condemn  its  use.  I  wish 
some  of  the  critics  of  evangelism  would  tell 
us  how  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  is  to  be 
extended  and  how  the  unbelieving  are  to 
be  led  to  embrace  the  faith  without  evan- 
gelistic effort.  Will  they  come  of  their  own 
accord  ?  Will  they  throng  to  our  Churches 
and  eagerly  ask  for  admission?  Nay,  verily. 
If  they  come  at  all,  they  must  be  invited, 
they  must  be   urged,    they   must   be   sought 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  45 

after.  It  always  has  been  so.  It  always 
will  be  so.  Hence  the  need  of  evangelism 
will  continue  until  the  last  trump  shall 
sound  and  the  present  dispensation  passes 
away.  Without  it  the  Church  must  die  of 
stagnation  and  Christianity  perish  from  the 
earth. 

Evangelism  is  needed  to  arouse  the  Church. 
Everywhere  we  hear  the  complaint  of  in- 
difference. Men  and  women  professing 
Christ  are  living  in  Laodicean  unconcern. 
Whether  Christianity  advances  or  recedes, 
whether  Christ  loses  or  wins,  whether  men 
accept  Him  or  reject  Him,  is  nothing  to 
them.  They  are  as  cold  as  the  stones  in  a 
graveyard,  unresponsive,  unenthusiastic  as 
statues  of  marble.  From  ministers  in  every 
part  of  the  country  comes  the  same  testi- 
mony. The  great  majority  of  their  Church 
members  are  at  ease  in  Zion.  They  are 
like  the  Roman  soldiers  on  Calvary,  of  whom 
it  is  said,  after  they  had  nailed  Jesus  to 
the  tree,  "  And  sitting  down  they  watched 
Him  there."  In  all  literature  there  is  not 
a  more  cold-blooded  statement  than  that 
— at  the  very  heart  of  it,  stolid,  unfeeling, 
unmovable  indifference.  Let  Him  suffer,  let 
Him  bleed,  let  Him  die — what  is  it  to  them  ? 
"  And  sitting  down  they  watched  Him  there." 


46  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

The  soldiers  are  gone,  but  their  spirit  of  in- 
sensibility to  Christ  and  His  claims  is  with  us 
yet,  and  that,  too,  among  those  who  bear  His 
name.  He  still  prays  on  the  mountain  and 
His  locks  are  wet  with  the  dews  of  the 
night ;  still  calls  for  workers  to  enter  the 
white  harvest  fields ;  still  says  to  those  who 
profess  to  be  His  friends,  "  Take  ye  away  the 
stone ; "  still  agonises  in  the  garden ;  still 
suffers  on  the  cross — "  And  sitting  down  they 
watched  Him  there."  He  tells  us  that  by 
virtue  of  His  relation  to  humanity,  a  relation 
which  makes  Him  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh 
of  our  flesh,  in  the  suffering  of  the  heathen 
He  suffers ;  in  the  pain  of  the  benighted  and 
miserable  He  is  pained ;  in  the  degradation 
and  woe  of  the  pagan  millions.  He  is  afflicted. 
He  tells  us  that  He  feels  on  His  own  back  the 
crack  of  the  slave-driver's  whip  in  Africa, 
feels  the  torture  of  foot-binding  in  China, 
feels  the  pangs  and  horrors  of  the  caste 
system  in  India,  feels  in  His  own  soul  the 
piercing  cry  of  the  slum  children  of  the 
world ;  and  yet  in  the  face  of  this  plain 
teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Church  members  are  stone-deaf  to 
the  appeal  of  missions.  It  is  nothing  to  them 
that  the  Saviour's  heart  aches — "  And  sitting 
down    they    watched    Him    there."     Surely, 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  47 

surely  He  deserves  better  treatment  from 
those  who  claim  to  be  enlisted  soldiers  of 
the  Cross. 

But  there  is  the  fact.  Indifference,  uncon- 
cern, apathy,  toward  every  point  of  the 
compass.  It  is  breaking  the  hearts  of 
ministers.  It  is  discouraging  Church  sessions. 
It  is  depleting  Sunday  Schools.  It  is  killing 
missionary  societies.  I  am  simply  repeating 
what  I  have  read  and  what  I  have  heard. 
And  what  is  the  remedy  ?  From  all  quarters 
comes  the  answer  —  Evangelism.  It  is  felt 
that  we  must  have  Pentecostal  preaching, 
and  Pentecostal  soul- winning,  and  Pente- 
costal loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  if  ever  this 
great  indifferent  mass  of  Church  membership 
is  to  be  warmed  into  life  and  drawn  into 
service.  It  is  felt  that  the  fires  of  evangelism 
must  be  kindled  if  December  conditions  are 
ever  to  give  place  to  the  fruitfulness  and 
beauty  of  summer. 

Evangelism  is  needed  to  give  Christian 
people  definiteness  of  aim.  When  two  or 
three  years  ago  an  American  captain  was 
training  his  soldiers  for  service  in  Cuba,  as 
they  went  through  the  woods  he  often  had 
them  engage  in  make-believe  warfare.  But 
always  he  would  say  to  them,  "  Don't  shoot 
blindly.     Aim    at    something."    It    was    that 


48  THE  MISSING  NOTE 

training  and  that  spirit  that  gave  them 
success  a  little  later  on  the  real  battlefield. 
The  great  difficulty  in  our  Churches  to-day 
is  a  lack  of  definiteness.  There  is  no  end  of 
shooting;  heavy  artillery  and  light  artillery 
sounding  out  continually,  but  there  are  few 
spoils,  few  trophies  of  victory,  because  we 
do  not  aim  at  something.  What  we  need 
is  an  object,  a  purpose,  something  to  work 
for,  something  on  which  to  focalise  our 
energies,  and  call  out  all  that  is  best  in  us ; 
and  this  we  can  find  in  evangelism. 

What  can  give  more  definiteness  of  aim 
than  efforts  to  win  men  to  Jesus  Christ?  A 
work  of  that  kind  would  concentrate  us  and 
consecrate  us  and  fill  our  Church-going  and 
Church  connection  with  infinite  meaning.  As 
they  are  now  they  signify  very  little  for  a 
good  many  of  us.  But  suppose  we  were  to 
set  before  ourselves  the  definite,  the  Divine 
task  of  recruiting  for  the  Lord,  of  earnestly 
inviting  men  and  women  to  Jesus  Christ,  of 
electioneering  for  our  great  Candidate,  how 
it  would  strengthen  our  faith  and  dignify  our 
Church  life  and  make  it  count  for  something 
in  the  estimation  of  both  God  and  man ! 

This  is  what  used  to  be  called  saving  the 
lost,  and  to  that  old  phraseology  we  need  to 
return  again.     For  if  this  Gospel  is  true,  and 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  49 

the  Lord  Jesus  is  true,  there  are  lost  men. 
If  not,  to  talk  about  salvation  and  about 
evangelism  is  to  talk  nonsense.  But  nothing 
in  this  world  is  more  in  evidence  than  the 
fact  of  lost  manhood  and  lost  womanhood. 
We  see  them  everywhere.  Not  simply  in 
the  slums.  Not  simply  in  pagan  lands.  But 
along  our  avenues,  and  in  what  is  called 
society  —  men  and  women  sodden  with  sin, 
soggy  with  worldliness,  living  in  a  state  of 
refined  and  respectable  animalism,  dead  to 
God,  dead  to  the  spiritual  and  the  eternal, 
with  every  skylight  of  their  lives  closed. 

Never  was  the  field  of  evangelism  larger 
and  never  was  its  work  more  needed  than 
at  this  hour.  It  is  needed  to  commend 
Christianity  to  the  world.  For  say  what 
you  will,  the  unbelieving,  the  ungodly,  the 
agnostic,  the  lovers  of  pleasure,  have  nothing 
but  contempt  for  a  Christianity  that  is  not 
aggressive.  When  they  see  it  shut  up  within 
Churches  ;  when  they  see  it  indifferent,  self- 
complacent,  self-satisfied,  professing  to  be 
the  agent  of  a  salvation  which  it  does  not 
seek  to  apply,  in  their  hearts  they  despise  it. 
If  it  is  to  win  their  respect  and  arrest  their 
attention  and  awaken  their  thought,  it  must 
repeat  Jesus  Christ,  and,  in  every  way  open 
to  human  ingenuity,   seek  to  save  the   lost. 

5 


50  THE   MISSING  NOTE 

Suppose  this  spirit  were  to  come  into  our 
present-day  Christianity,  suppose  the  old 
note  struck  by  the  apostles  and  reformers 
should  be  struck  again.  Suppose  our 
Churches  in  every  city  were  to  go  out  from 
their  stereotyped  arrangements  and  stately 
programmes  in  their  eagerness  to  win  souls. 
Suppose,  instead  of  being  content  to  stand 
on  the  defensive  and  hold  their  own,  they 
should  shake  themselves  from  their  indolence 
and  carry  the  war  into  Africa.  In  that  case 
the  stock  of  Christianity  would  go  up  a 
thousand  j)er  cent,  with  men  of  the  world, 
and  its  influence  over  human  society  would 
be  a  thousandfold  increased. 

Well,  so  far  as  our  own  denomination  is 
concerned  there  are  signs  that  such  a  time 
is  coming.  The  tides  of  evangelism  are 
rising.  The  note,  missing  so  long,  is  sound- 
ing out  again.  Who  has  not  read  about  how 
the  old  chieftain  of  Scotland  rallied  his  fol- 
lowers for  the  battle  ?  A  fiery  cross  was  sent 
over  mountain  and  glen.  Messenger  passed 
it  to  messenger  with  the  word,  "  Speed  forth 
the  signal,  clansman,  speed."  It  glanced  like 
lightning  through  the  forest.  It  sxjed  over 
hill  and  dale.  At  sight  of  it  the  farmer  left 
his  field,  the  hunter  his  game,  the  fisherman 
his  boat,  and  hastened  to  the  muster-place  to 


IN  MODERN  PREACHING  51 

strike  for  his  chief.  So  in  our  beloved  Church 
to-day  the  messengers  of  Christ  are  passing 
the  signal  along.  They  are  rallying  the 
people,  gathering  the  clans  of  Calvary,  pre- 
paring for  a  great  forward  movement  in 
soul-winning. 

You  remember  the  thrilling  story  of  the 
mutiny  in  India — how  the  men  and  women 
and  children  shut  up  in  Lucknow  longed  for 
the  coming  of  the  British  soldiers.  There 
they  were  suffering,  starving,  suffocating, 
exposed  to  the  brutal  tortures  and  insults 
of  a  brutal  enemy.  But  one  day  when  in 
the  last  extremity  of  distress,  a  Scotch  lassie, 
in  what  seemed  to  be  a  kind  of  delirium, 
cried  out,  "  Dinna  ye  hear  the  pibroch  ? 
Dinna  ye  hear  the  pibroch?"  Her  quick  ear 
caught  the  sound  of  bagpipes,  and  soon  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  and  his  brave  Highlanders 
were  seen  coming  to  the  rescue,  their  colours 
flying  in  the  wind.  The  imprisoned  wept 
for  joy.  So  the  listening  ear  of  faith  can 
hear  the  coming  music  of  evangelism  with 
its  glorious  gospel  of  deliverance.  Soon  the 
missing  note  will  be  heard  again  ;  and  it  is 
because  I  want  this  great  multitude  to  catch 
it  up,  to  join  the  chorus,  to  fall  in  line,  that 
I  speak  these  words  to-day. 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 


POWER  FROM  ON   HIGH* 

"  Until  ye  be  endued  with  power." — Luke  xxiv.  49. 

"  And  ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is 

come  upon  you." — Acts  i.  8. 

WE  all  know  what  power  is  in  its  relation 
to  the  things  of  this  world,  and  the 
eagerness  with  which  men  are  everywhere 
seeking  it.  If  we  ask  why  it  is  that  so 
much  is  made  of  wealth  or  position  or 
education,  the  answer  is  found  in  the  word 
"  power."  There  is  something  in  money,  and 
in  high  official  or  social  standing,  and  in  a 
thoroughly  trained  mind  that  gives  leverage 
and  immensely  widens  the  scope  of  a  man's 
influence.  The  mechanic  who  as  a  worker  at 
the  bench  is  unknown  outside  of  a  very  small 
circle,  is  recognised  as  a  power  in  the  State 
when  by  some  lucky  hit  he  becomes  a  million- 
aire. Education  and  position  are  also  large 
contributors  of  power.  We  send  our  children 
to  school  and  college  in  order  that,  by  discip- 

*  Delivered  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  U.S.A.  at  Los  Angeles,  California, 
May  18,  1903. 

S5 


56  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

line  and  training,  they  may  lay  up  strength. 
Education  is  a  process  of  power-storing.  We 
put  it  away  in  the  shape  of  reserves  of  force, 
and  in  after  years  draw  upon  it  to  give  us 
victory  in  the  stress  and  strain  of  life's 
struggles.  Power  is  a  great  word,  therefore, 
even  in  its  lower  uses  and  applications. 
Painter,  musician,  orator,  politician,  book- 
writer,  professor — every  man  wants  power. 
It  is  considered  something  worth  striving 
after  with  the  sweat  of  blood-drops. 

But  beyond  all  this  there  is  another  sort 
of  power,  as  much  higher  as  heaven  is  higher 
than  earth.  It  is  the  kind  of  power  referred 
to  by  our  Lord,  and  which  He  told  His 
disciples  to  tarry  for  in  Jerusalem.  We 
call  it  spiritual  power,  but  I  suspect  we  are 
not  always  clear  as  to  just  what  that  is. 
It  would  greatly  simplify  matters  if  we  could 
get  hold  of  the  idea  that  spiritual  power  is  no 
other  than  the  will  of  God  streaming  into  us 
and  becoming  our  will.  All  through  the  ages 
gone  this  eternal  will  has  streamed  into  insti- 
tutions and  personalities.  Now  it  has  flashed 
out  in  prophetic  illumination,  now  become  the 
mover  in  some  epoch-making  reformation, 
and  now  of  some  great  religious  awakening. 
Society  has  been  lifted  and  purified  just  in 
proportion  as   it    has   opened  itself    to    this 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  57 

stream  of  the  Divine  purpose.  Every 
improvement  in  social  conditions,  every 
movement  to  elevate  and  save  the  masses, 
every  endeavour  to  Christianise  the  heathen, 
every  step  of  progress  toward  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  has  been  caused  by  the  in- 
streaming  of  the  will  of  God.  These  things 
are  done  by  the  push  of  the  very  forces  that 
rule  in  the  heart  of  the  eternal  Father. 

Go,  for  example,  into  a  great  mill,  or 
factory.  At  one  end  are  the  huge  engine 
and  driving  wheel.  At  the  other  are 
scores,  perhaps  hundreds,  of  machines  stand- 
ing still.  There  is  no  lack  of  power  in  the 
engine  and  no  lack  of  willingness  in  the 
engineer  to  pass  it  along  to  the  factory, 
but  still  the  machines  are  motionless.  What 
is  the  matter  ?  Simply  this :  the  great  belt 
which  transmits  the  power  from  the  engine 
to  the  factory  has  not  been  slipped  on.  Let 
that  be  attended  to  and  immediately  every 
wheel  begins  to  turn  and  something  is  done. 
Now  spiritual  power,  as  I  understand  it,  is 
simply  belting  my  will  on  to  the  will  of 
God.  The  man  who  does  that  most  com- 
pletely, who  keeps  the  belt  most  tight,  so 
that  the  power  lost  in  transmission  is  re- 
duced to  a  minimum,  is  always  the  mightiest 
spiritual  force.     Most  of  us  are  weak  because 


58  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

the  belt  is  either  off  altogether,  or  so  slack 
and  loose  that  it  carries  very  little  of  the 
power  of  the  engine  over  into  the  factory. 
Now  if  I  am  right  in  my  definition,  it  will  be 
in  order  to  enlarge  for  a  moment  or  two  upon — 
I.  The  Source  of  this  poiver.  The  Saviour 
calls  it  "  power  from  on  high "  and  the 
"  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  But  when  He 
makes  use  of  such  expressions  we  are  not 
to  imagine  that  spiritual  power  has  one 
fountain  and  material  power  another.  In 
all  the  universe  there  is  but  one  eternal 
mover.  The  force  behind  Niagara,  or  behind 
the  tides,  or  tempests,  or  stars,  is  the  same 
as  that  which  is  behind  every  baptism  of 
the  spirit,  and  every  revival  of  religion,  and 
every  ingathering  of  souls,  viz.,  the  will  of 
God.  The  very  will  which  in  one  direction 
propels  the  planets  in  their  courses,  and  holds 
the  oceans  within  bounds,  and  lifts  the  moun- 
tain ranges  against  the  sky,  and  sends  all  the 
rivers  singing  to  the  sea,  in  another  direction 
is  working  to  build  up  a  kingdom  of  souls  and 
to  bring  mankind  into  harmony  with  itself. 
The  same  will  that  bids  the  lily  grow,  and 
hangs  the  cluster  on  the  vine,  and  rewards 
the  labour  of  the  husbandman,  is  the  will 
that  energises  the  Church  and  clothes  with 
might  her  Pauls  and  Wesleys  and  Moodys. 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  59 

The  driving  power  of  creation  is  one,  and 
whether  I  preach  or  operate  a  street-car 
system,  whether  I  undertake  to  lead  a  soul 
to  Christ  or  to  talk  through  a  telephone, 
if  I  am  to  have  any  success  I  must  draw 
upon  that  fountain-head.  So  that  when  we 
talk  of  spiritual  power  we  are  no  more  in 
the  region  of  mystery  than  when  we  talk  of 
electric  power,  or  chemical  power,  or  any 
other  kind  of  power.  All  proceed  from  the 
same  will,  and  all  become  practically  mighty 
only  when  the  laws  of  that  will  are  obeyed. 

II.  Now,  the  source  being  what  it  is,  the 
power  is  coiistant.  One  of  our  very  common 
expressions  nowadays  is  the  generation  of 
force.  We  see  a  dynamo  of  large  dimensions 
down  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  and  we 
say,  "That  is  where  the  power  is  produced 
that  lights  our  homes  and  stores  or  that 
drives  our  cars  or  pumps  our  water."  Or 
we  see  a  thousand  wheels  turning  in  Buffalo 
or  thereabouts,  and  we  say,  "  The  power 
that  does  all  this  is  generated  by  Niagara's 
cataract."  But  that  is  a  very  lax  and  liberal 
use  of  language,  and  can  be  tolerated  only 
by  courtesy.  Man  simply  discovers  and 
utilises  forces  which  have  been  in  the  world 
from  the  beginning.  Steam  and  electricity 
and     magnetism    are     not    something    new. 


60  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

The  locomotive,  and  the  telephone,  and 
the  mariner's  compass,  and  all  the  other 
wonders  of  invention  were  in  Eden.  We 
have  nothing  to-day  the  possibilities  of 
which  have  not  always  existed. 
<j^  This' power  about  which  I  am  speaking  is  a 
fixed  quantity — as  fixed  as  the  will  of  God. 
It  does  not  come  and  go,  emerge  and  dis- 
appear, ebb  and  flow  like  the  tides,  but  is 
the  same  in  fulness  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever.  By  forgetting  this  fact  men  are 
sometimes  led  into  absurdities  and  reUgious 
extravagances  which,  to  say  the  least,  are 
misleading.  A  simx>le  reference  to  the  phrases, 
"  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,"  and  "  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  will  serve  to 
indicate  what  I  mean.  Christian  people  have 
often  wrought  themselves  up  to  a  great  pitch 
of  excitement,  and  exhausted  themselves  with 
emotional  fervour  under  the  impression  that 
these  things  were  necessary  to  bring  in  the 
reluctant  tides  of  spiritual  power.  They  have 
acted  on  the  assumption  that  God's  will  is 
impulsive,  intermittent,  variable.  Frequently 
in  the  joss-houses  of  San  Francisco  I  have 
seen  the  Chinamen  come  in  and  ring  a  bell 
to  call  up  the  sleeping  or  absent  gods.  And 
much  the  same  thought,  I  fear,  has  sometimes 
been  in  the  minds  of  the  followers  of  Christ. 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  61 

They  have  acted  as  though  they  believed  that 
their  God  is  a  God  of  moods  and  whims. 

This,  I  think,  has  been  one  great  weakness 
in  the  Church.  Instead  of  grasping  and 
holding  on  to  the  idea  that  this  spiritual 
power  is  constant,  that  the  Divine  tide  is 
always  at  the  full,  ready  to  stream  into  any 
creek,  or  cove,  or  channel,  or  bay  that  is  open 
to  it,  the  feeling  has  been  that  it  must  be 
induced  and  coaxed  and  won  back  by  bell- 
ringings  and  excitements  of  one  kind  and 
another.  Now,  the  scientific  man  is  more 
wise.  He  does  not  interpret  his  forces  in  that 
way.  "  The  electrician,"  as  another  has  said, 
"never  expects  to  get  the  power  he  is  in 
search  of  by  excitement,  nor  does  he  look  for 
a  sudden  visitation  of  it,  as  though  the  in- 
visibles he  dealt  with  acted  purely  on  caprice. 
Instead,  he  works  quietly  in  a  given  direction, 
sure  that  by  obeying  the  known  conditions  he 
will  be  re-enforced  by  the  power  he  invokes." 
That  is  to  say,  he  believes  in  the  steadiness, 
the  continuity,  the  unfailing  constancy  of  the 
force  he  is  seeking  to  harness  and  apply. 
And  I  know  of  nothing  more  needed  by 
Christian  people  than  a  similar  faith  in  the 
invariableness  of  this  "power  from  on 
high." 

As   one   goes   back   along   the   pathway  of 


62  POWER  FROM   ON  HIGH 

Church  history  he  frequently  runs  upon  men 
who  served  as  great  spiritual  power-centres 
for  the  times  in  which  they  lived.  They  were 
so  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  that  they 
communicated  Divine  life  and  enthusiasm  to 
multitudes  who  come  in  contact  with  them. 
Like  the  heavily  charged  battery  that  sends 
its  currents  flashing  through  a  hundred  wires, 
or,  like  the  reservoir,  fed  from  the  mountains, 
that  makes  the  fields  around  green  and  fruit- 
ful with  its  numerous  issuing  streams,  so 
these  Spirit-filled  personalities  became  distri- 
butors of  the  very  power  of  God. 

Of  this  sort  were  the  saintly  Baxter,  the 
rapturous  Rutherford,  the  heavenly-minded 
Summerfield,  the  consecrated  Nettleton,  and 
scores  of  others  whose  names  will  readily 
occur  to  you.  To  come  into  the  presence  of 
such  men  was  immediately  to  feel  the  glow 
and  spell  of  something  Divine.  But  of  all  the 
spiritual  power-centres  of  history  Jesus  stood 
supreme.  It  was  as  though  the  very  heavens 
had  emptied  themselves  into  Him.  And  if  we 
look  for  the  explanation  of  the  pre-eminent 
spiritual  i)ower  of  the  men  just  indicated,  and 
especially  of  our  Lord,  we  shall  find  it  in  the 
fact  that  they  believed  the  Source  on  which 
they  had  to  draw  was  as  constant  as  the  stars, 
and  kept  themselves  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  it. 


POWER  FROM   ON  HIGH  63 

III.  A  word  now  as  to  the  availability  of 
this  "power  from  on  high."  The  Bible 
certainly  teaches  that  it  is  a  resource  intended 
for  use,  something  to  be  drawn  upon  continu- 
ally. Jesus  would  not  allow  His  disciples  to 
enter  upon  their  work  until  they  had  it.  As 
well  for  the  bird  to  try  to  fly  without  wings, 
or  the  ship  to  sail  without  wind  or  steam. 
This  power  was  everything.  The  question, 
then,  as  to  its  availability  is  in  the  highest 
degree  practical.  May  you,  may  I,  be  a 
reservoir  of  Divine  energy,  a  battery  charged 
with  Heaven's  own  electricity,  and  so  become 
a  spiritual  power-centre  in  my  own  Church 
and  my  own  community?  The  answer  is 
rightly  affirmative,  but  how  ?  Let  me  throw 
light  upon  the  matter  by  means  of  an  illus- 
tration or  two. 

Some  time  ago,  in  one  of  our  magazines, 
I  read  of  a  machine  invented  in  Southern 
California  for  the  purpose  of  directly  utilising 
the  sun's  rays  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them 
pump  water  for  irrigating  the  fields.  They 
were  caught  on  a  broad  disc,  and  by  a  clever 
arrangement  of  mirrors  and  reflectors  so  con- 
centrated that  their  heat  propelled  the  engine 
that  did  the  pumping.  It  was  said  to  be  a 
great  success.  But  I  noticed  that  the  power 
of  the  engine  depended  upon  the  extent   of 


64  POWER  FROM  ON   HIGH 

the  receiving  surface  which  it  turned  toward 
the  sun  whose  rays  rained  down  upon  it. 

Now  that  is  suggestive.  The  great  diffi- 
culty with  too  many  of  us  preachers  and 
Church  members  is  that  the  receiving  surface 
which  we  present  to  God  is  small,  and  hence 
our  gift  of  power  is  small.  A  vast  deal  of 
our  manhood  and  womanhood  is  turned  away 
from  God.  By  selfishness,  by  worldliness,  by 
lack  of  self-sacrifice  and  brotherliness,  our 
spiritual  receptivity  is  very  limited,  the  up- 
turned vessel  has  little  capacity.  The  reason 
why  our  Saviour  kept  the  early  disciples  wait- 
ing there  in  Jerusalem  was  that  this  receiving 
surface  might  be  enlarged,  that  their  whole 
nature  might  lie  open  to  the  beams  of  the 
Divine  power.  That  is  what  they  were  doing 
in  the  upper  room  during  those  ten  days — 
expanding  the  receiving  surface,  removing 
everything  that  would  not  gather  up  and 
reflect  the  rays  of  the  Spirit,  getting  rid  of  the 
flesh,  emptying  themselves  ;  and  when  at  last, 
by  prayer  and  supplication,  their  whole  being 
was  receptive  and  responsive,  they  were 
endued  with  power  and  went  forth  from 
that  upper  room  to  sway  the  multitudes,  to 
win  thousands  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  work 
wonders  among  the  people. 

Or   I   might   illustrate   the   same   thing   in 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  65 

another  way.  There  was  a  man  who  had  on 
his  estate  a  beautiful  lake.  It  was  supplied 
with  pure  water  from  the  mountains  not  far 
away.  The  lake  and  its  surroundings  were 
charming.  Flowers  in  great  varieties  grew 
on  its  banks,  birds  sang  in  the  trees,  and  troops 
of  merry  children  romped  and  played  in  the 
delightful  grounds.  The  owner  of  the  lake 
was  a  man  of  God  and  loved  his  fellow-men. 
Over  the  entrance  to  the  enchanting  place  he 
had  this  sign  up,  "  All  are  welcome."  Men 
and  women,  tired  and  care-worn,  often  went 
in  to  rest.  The  lake  and  its  environment 
refreshed  them  and  eased  them  of  their 
burdens ;  and  when  they  turned  homewards 
they  breathed  a  benediction  upon  the  big- 
hearted  proprietor. 

And  not  only  so,  but  the  cattle  and  sheep 
grazing  in  the  neighbourhood  were  blest  by 
the  lovely  spot.  The  lake  received  such 
abundant  supplies  from  the  hills  that  it  over- 
flowed and  went  out  in  a  full,  rich  stream 
through  the  fields  below,  and  the  flocks  and 
herds  feeding  there  had  plenty  of  pure 
mountain  water  to  drink.  On  and  on  went 
the  stream  from  the  overflow,  bearing  joy 
and  gladness  for  miles  down  the  valley. 

But  one  day  the  owner  of  the  lake  started 
for  a  foreign  land  to  be  absent  many  months. 

6 


66  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

Before  going  he  rented  his  estate  to  a  neigh- 
bour of  hard,  practical  nature  who  did  not 
want  to  be  bothered  with  the  work  of 
keeping  up  ^  park  that  would  yield  no  money 
returns.  He  had  no  time  to  take  care  of  a 
place  that  would  bring  him  no  income.  So 
the  crystal  water  from  the  mountains  was 
cut  off.  The  old  welcome  sign  was  taken 
down  and  this  put  up  in  its  place,  "  No  tres- 
passing on  these  grounds."  A  change  came 
over  everything.  The  flowers  faded,  the 
grass  withered,  the  birds  sought  more  con- 
genial surroundings,  the  fish  in  the  lake  died 
as  the  waters  dried  up,  the  air  was  filled  with 
offensive  odours,  no  children  came  in  to  play, 
or  weary  men  and  women  to  rest,  and  the 
flocks  and  herds  below  were  deprived  of  their 
X)ure  mountain  water — the  entire  place  lost 
its  beauty  and  its  glory. 

Thus  the  whole  difference  was  brought 
about  by  cutting  off  the  water  supply  from 
the  hills.  Now,  if  any  of  us  are  in  the 
condition  of  that  dried-up  lake  and  its 
withered  and  unattractive  surroundings,  we 
can  easily  see  the  reason  why.  Our  connec- 
tion with  the  springs  of  God  is  cut  off.  We 
are  not  open  to  the  stream  of  the  Eternal 
Will ;  and  so  we  are  weak,  our  lives  are  barren 
and  unfruitful.     Or  it  may  be  the  sluice-gate 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  67 

is  lifted  juvst  a  little,  far  enough  to  let  only 
a  very  small  amount  of  water  trickle  through, 
but  there  is  no  overflow  and  no  power. 
People  are  not  drawn  to  us  and  won  to  Christ, 
because  our  lives  are  without  spiritual  force 
and  beauty.  Too  often  they  are  rented 
estates,  let  out  to  the  world,  to  pride,  and 
fashion,  and  display — tenants  who  care  only 
for  themselves — and  so  they  lie  withered  and 
desolate  before  the  eyes  of  God  and  men. 

It  is  not  difficult,  then,  to  see  what  must  be 
done  to  make  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
available.  We  must  lift  the  sluice-gate.  We 
must  open  ourselves,  our  minds,  our  wills,  our 
hearts,  all  our  powers  and  faculties,  to  the 

Spirit  of  God.      "  If  any  man  will  open " 

This  is  what  I  understand  by  the  baptism 
from  above.  It  is  simply  a  case  of  opening, 
of  becoming  receptive,  of  removing  obstruc- 
tions. Do  that,  and  the  power  will  come. 
How  often  I  have  seen  along  the  sea  shore 
little  scum-covered  puddles  which,  by  an 
accumulation  of  filth  and  debris,  had  been 
cut  off  from  the  play  of  the  tides.  There 
they  were  rotting  and  festering,  breeding 
malaria  and  death.  What  they  needed  to 
cleanse  and  to  transform  them  was  to  open 
up  the  channels  and  let  in  the  pure  water 
of  the  pulsing  ocean.     And  that  is  what  we 


68  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

ministers  and  elders  and  Church  members 
need.  To  open  up  the  channels,  to  lift  the 
sluice-gate,  is  not  easy.  It  means  sacrifice, 
means  self-denial,  means  long  waiting  in 
some  upper  room,  means  exhausting  prayer 
and  supplication ;  but  to  do  it,  to  feel  the 
pulse  of  God's  oceanic  heart  throbbing  in  us 
and  inspiring  us,  to  feel  and  know  that  our 
little  pools  on  the  shore  are  one  with  the 
Infinite  Sea — the  tides  pouring  in  and  out — 
is  an  experience  worth  a  thousandfold  more 
than  it  costs  to  secure  it. 

IV.  And  now  the  iieed  of  this  ''  power 
from  on  high."  Significant  for  all  time  was 
our  Lord's  command  to  "  tarry  in  Jerusalem." 
Failure  at  the  outset  would  have  buried  the 
infant  Church  beyond  all  hope  of  a  resur- 
rection. He  saw  how  necessary  it  was  that 
the  disciples  should  succeed,  and  succeed  so 
conspicuously  as  to  lift  them  and  their  cause 
into  a  prominence,  an  importance  upon  the 
horizon,  that  would  compel  attention. 

And  what  did  He  do  ?  Please  note  it  well. 
He  gave  them  no  instruction  as  to  methods. 
He  put  into  their  hands  no  elaborate  pro- 
gramme— no  ijrogramme  at  all  except  to 
begin  there  in  the  city,  and  not  to  begin 
until  the  pressure  of  Divine  power  was 
upon    them.     He    outlined    no    campaign.     I 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  69 

find  in  the  record  no  bill  of  directions  as 
to  how  they  should  proceed,  or  what  order 
they  should  follow,  or  how  their  evangelising 
should  be  done. 

He  simply  kept  them  waiting — waiting  for 
power,  waiting  for  an  inflow  of  the  Spirit, 
emptying  the  vessels,  and  turning  them 
upward  to  be  filled  from  above.  Well  did 
He  know  that  when  the  i)Ower  came  the 
methods  would  take  care  of  themselves. 
They  would  preach  with  burning  tongues  to 
the  multitudes,  and  not  only  so,  but  would 
be  direct  and  personal,  individual  going  after 
individual.  Life  will  always  organise  itself. 
Only  let  us  have  the  life  and  that  life  will 
crystallise  into  plans  and  programmes.  Only 
let  us  have  the  Divine  life  pulsing  through 
us  and  Divine  work  will  be  done.  I  believe 
with  all  my  heart  that  if  we  spent  half  as 
much  time  praying  as  we  do  planning,  half 
as  much  time  waiting  upon  God  as  Ave  do 
working  at  machinery,  Pentecost  would  come 
again  and  great  waves  of  revival  sweep  over 
the  land.  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power ;  not 
by  clever  human  agencies  and  devices ;  not 
by  committees  and  correspondence — all  these 
are  good  and  wise  in  their  place — but  the 
supreme  need  of  the  hour,  the  one  thing 
without  which  all  else  must  fail,  is  the  in- 
c      filling  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 


70  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

This  need,  I  say,  is  imperative,  never  more 
so  than  at  the  present  time.  It  is  empha- 
sised by  the  unyielding  indiiferentism  of  the 
age,  by  the  apathy  of  the  Church,  and  by  our 
own  coldness  as  followers  of  Christ.  Go  into 
our  marts  of  trade,  into  those  Venices  where 
buyers  and  sellers  most  do  congregate,  into 
society,  into  the  club,  listen  to  the  talk  of 
the  people,  catch  the  drift  of  their  thought, 
the  prevailing  trend  of  their  desires,  and 
see  how  tremendous  is  the  grip  of  world- 
liness.  Even  our  Church  members,  for  the 
most  part,  seem  to  be  reckoning  in  terms  of 
markets,  and  money  balances,  and  of  the 
passing  pleasures  of  the  day.  To  thousands 
of  them  the  theatre  is  immensely  more 
attractive  than  the  temple  of  God  ;  the 
fashionable  social  function  immensely  more 
important  than  a  meeting  to  plan  for  world- 
evangelisation  ;  the  goddess  of  dress  an  hun- 
dredfold more  popular  than  the  God-man  of 
Galilee. 

Look  around  you.  Take  the  measure  of 
the  men  and  women  you  meet.  Watch  their 
conduct.  Note  the  things  that  interest  and 
absorb  them,  the  things  that  they  freely 
spend  their  money  for,  and  if  you  form  a 
judgment  at  all,  it  must  be  that  the  unseen 
values,   the   great  spiritual   realities   of    life, 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  71 

are  so  discounted  that  in  multitudes  of  in- 
stances they  are  simply  nil.  The  religion  of 
the  Crucified,  and  all  its  concomitants,  are 
rated  as  cheap  goods,  mere  shoddy  compared 
with  what  the  world  has  to  offer,  and  there 
are  few  buyers  at  that  counter.  Sabbath 
observance  in  any  high  spiritual  sense  is  a 
thing  of  the  past.  The  fourth  command- 
ment has  lost  its  sanctions.  Sinai  no  longer 
smokes  and  thunders.  The  people  have 
ceased  to  tremble  at  God's  tokens.  Never 
before  was  the  rush  of  life  so  intense,  but 
it  is  not  the  rush  after  goodness.  Sports, 
pleasures,  material  gains,  and  animal  ex- 
citements most  engage  the  dreams  of  the 
present  generation.  The  ideals  of  the  people 
are  low.  Soul  qualities  seem  to  be  declining, 
and  when  the  soul,  either  of  a  nation  or  an 
individual,  goes  down  the  vultures  will  soon 
gather. 

Are  the  colours  too  dark  ?  Am  I  putting 
too  much  shade  in  the  picture  ?  Look  and 
ponder  for  yourselves.  No  one  is  more  opti- 
mistic than  myself.  I  believe  with  all  my 
heart  that  the  general  trend  and  current  of 
things  is  vipward,  and  always  upward.  I 
believe  that,  on  the  whole,  this  year  is 
better  than  last,  and  that  last  year  was 
better  than  the  year  before.     But  my  read- 


72  POWER  FROM   ON  HIGH 

ing  of  history  has  taught  me  that  often- 
times the  road  to  the  heights  takes  a  dip 
into  the  valley,  that  here  and  there  along 
the  river  of  the  centuries  there  are  powerful 
eddies  which  sweep  whatever  is  caught  in 
them  round  and  round  in  a  wild  whirl.  The 
onlooker  from  the  banks  sees  motion,  but  not 
progress. 

Something  like  this  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
condition  of  the  Church  at  the  present  time. 
It  is  on  the  road  to  the  heights,  but  just 
now  it  is  passing  lazily  through  the  valley, 
self-complacent,  self-satisfied,  and  rather 
shrinks  from  the  rough  mountain  climbing 
that  leads  up  to  the  light.  It  is  in  the  river 
of  God's  providence,  but  somehow  by  care- 
lessness, by  unfaithful  pilotage,  by  a  lack  of 
watchfulness,  it  has  got  out  of  the  main 
channel,  where  the  water  is  deep,  and  been 
caught  in  the  eddies ;  and  there  it  is,  day 
after  day,  drifting  about  in  sight  of  the  same 
shores,  hugging  the  same  banks  of  worldliness 
and  selfish  pleasure. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  things  that 
make  so  indispensable  and  imperative  this 
"power  from  on  high."  Oh,  brethren,  we 
must  have  it,  or  we  shall  be  defeated  all 
along  the  line.  We  must  have  it,  or  moral 
values  will  continue  to  depreciate.    We  must 


POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH  73 

have  it,  or  our  Church  membership  will  be 
as  einpty  as  a  drum,  and  our  preaching  as 
profitless  as  the  play  of  sky-rockets  in  the 
night.  We  must  have  it,  or  swallow  the 
humiliation  of  belonging  to  a  kingdom  whose 
King  is  uncrowned,  and  of  proclaiming  a 
Gospel  that  has  ceased  to  be  a  Gospel  of 
Salvation.  We  must  have  it,  if  indifference 
is  to  be  warmed  into  interest,  and  interest 
kindled  into  enthusiasm,  and  the  masses,  now 
alienated  from  the  Church  and  out  of  touch 
with  our  religious  communities,  reached  and 
won  to  Christ.  We  must  have  it,  if  our 
Protestantism  is  to  be  saved  from  a  stiff  and 
rigid  institutionalism,  and  the  eyes  of  our 
preachers  and  Churches  opened  to  see  that 
their  business  is  to  go  to  the  people  and 
serve  them,  in  their  deep  human  needs,  as 
long  ago  the  Master  did  in  Galilee.  We  must 
have  it,  if  we  are  to  have  converts,  and 
revivals,  and  mighty  in-gatherings,  and  con- 
trite souls  crying  out,  "Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do  ?  " 

We  are  told  that  about  a  century  ago  there 
was  a  great  drought  in  England.  It  con- 
tinued for  a  year.  The  rains  were  withheld. 
The  hillsides  were  scorched,  the  pastures 
burned  up,  the  flocks  and  herds  left  to  die 
without  water.     The  River  Thames  dwindled 


74  POWER  FROM  ON  HIGH 

to  a  mere  rivulet.  Great  ships  were  stranded 
upon  the  mud.  Hundreds  of  boats  were  high 
and  dry  upon  the  beach.  Commerce  was 
paralysed.  But  just  when  the  people  were 
in  despair  the  sky  was  overcast.  The  clouds 
deepened.  Night  came.  The  people  retired, 
to  be  wakened  by  the  pattering  of  the  rain 
upon  the  roof.  No  music  so  sweet  had  ever 
been  heard  before.  Soon  the  rain  became 
a  torrent,  and  the  torrent  became  a  flood. 
The  wells  were  filled,  the  brooks  overflowed, 
the  stranded  ships  were  lifted  from  their 
ignoble  anchorage,  and  everywhere  there 
was  rejoicing. 

Members  of  the  Assembly,  do  we  not  all 
feel  the  need  of  a  refreshing  from  on  high? 
We  need  it  for  ourselves.  We  need  it  for  our 
Churches.  We  need  it  for  our  beloved  denomi- 
nation. And  is  not  this  the  place  and  this 
the  hour  to  seek  for  it  in  earnest,  united, 
importunate  prayer  ?  It  will  not  come  in 
the  night  when  we  are  asleep.  It  will  not 
come  unless  we  look  into  the  sky  with  a 
longing  that  will  take  no  denial.  Let  us  go 
up  to  the  heights  in  the  spirit  of  Elijah.  Let 
us  go  again,  and  we  shall  see  a  little  cloud. 
Let  us  go  still  again.  Let  us  go  seven  times, 
and  there  will  be  the  sound  of  abundance  of 
rain. 


THE   IMPERILLED    HOME 


THE   IMPERILLED   HOME 


"  And  David  longed,  and  said,  Oh  that  one  would  give  me 
to  drink  of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  which  is  by 
the  gate." — 2  Sam.  xxiii.  15. 

"Let  them  learn  first  to  show  piety  at  home,  and  to 
requite  their  parents  :  for  that  is  good  and  acceptable  before 
God."— 1  Tim.  v.  4. 


THERE  are  times  in  life,  peculiar  experi- 
ences, when  memory  insists  upon  going 
back  to  the  scenes  and  associations  of  early 
years — back  to  the  old  faiths,  the  old  habits, 
the  old  friends  of  the  vanished  past.  A  home- 
feeling  takes  possession  of  us  and,  like  David 
when  hard  pressed  by  his  foes,  we  long  for  a 
drink  of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem 
which  is  by  the  gate.  This  feeling  comes  to 
us  sometimes  in  the  intervals  of  business  care, 
sometimes  in  quiet  hours  of  meditation  ;  and 
we  wander  back  again  to  the  old  homestead. 
We  cross  the  well-worn  threshold.  We  stand 
once  more  in  the  room  hallowed  by  the  family 
altar    and    the    voice    of    prayer.     We    look 

77 


78  THE  IMPERILLED  HOME 

around  for  the  old  well-thumbed  book  which 
father  used  to  read,  and  for  the  place  where 
mother  used  to  kneel,  and  a  sense  of  child- 
hood creeps  into  our  souls — a  sense  of 
innocence  and  dependence  comes  over  us — 
and  in  thought  we  kneel  there  again,  just 
where  long  ago  we  knelt,  and  say,  "  Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven."  We  drink  once  more 
of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem  which 
is  by  the  gate. 

Call  it  sentiment  if  you  like  ;  no  matter. 
Nothing  else  is  more  full  of  tonic  and  moral 
ozone.  How  often  in  the  stress  and  strain  of 
life,  when  sorely  tempted  to  do  wrong,  has 
the  memory  of  the  old  home,  of  its  sacred 
hours,  of  its  prayers,  of  its  loving  solicitude, 
been  like  a  cable  of  steel  to  hold  us  from 
going  upon  the  rocks  !  The  passing  years 
have  filled  great  drifts  between  that  home 
and  us,  but  defying  the  flight  of  time  there  is 
a  wireless  telegraphy  which  still  brings  us 
messages  from  hearthstones  that  are  gone 
and  from  voices  that  are  hushed.  It  is  no 
indication  of  strength  or  of  robustness  of 
mind  to  be  untouched  and  unmoved  by  the 
sentiment  of  home.  Never  was  David  more 
manly,  or  more  truly  human,  than  when  he 
longed  for  a  drink  from  the  old  well  of  his 
boyhood. 


THE  IMPERILLED  HOME  79 

Never  did  the  soldiers  of  the  Federal  and 
Confederate  armies  show  themselves  to  be 
more  noble  and  heroic  than  in  the  following 
incident.  It  was  in  1863  and  they  were  con- 
fronting each  other  along  the  opposite  banks 
of  the  Rappahanock.  In  the  twilight  one 
evening  two  bands  began  to  play  at  the  same 
hour  upon  either  bank  of  the  river.  The  band 
on  the  Northern  bank  would  play  "  Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  "  Hail  Columbia,"  and  at 
its  conclusion  the  boys  in  blue  would  cheer 
most  lustily.  Then  the  band  on  the  Southern 
bank  would  respond  with  "  Dixie,"  "  Bonnie 
Blue  Flag,"  or  some  Southern  melody,  and  the 
boys  in  gray  would  attest  their  approbation 
with  a  tremendous  shout.  But  presently  one 
of  the  bands  struck  ui3  in  sweet,  plaintive 
notes,  which  were  wafted  across  the  Rappa- 
hanock and  caught  up  at  once  by  the  other 
band  and  swelled  into  a  grand  anthem  which 
touched  every  heart,  "  Home,  Home,  Sweet 
Home."  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  voices 
caught  it  up  and  sang  it  until  the  hills  echoed 
and  re-echoed  the  grand  acclaim.  A  responsive 
chord  had  been  struck.  The  hearts  of  heroic 
foemen  beat  in  unison.  In  that  hour  they 
were  one  in  the  sweet  memory  of  home  and — 

"  Something  down  the  soldiers'  cheeks, 
Washed  off  the  stains  of  powder." 


80  THE   IMPERILLED   HOME 

When  they  yielded  to  that  sentiment  and 
broke  into  tears,  they  showed  the  sj)lendid 
stuff  they  were  made  of  and  bore  eloquent 
testimony  to  the  humanising  and  ennobling 
influence  of  this  best  of  all  institutions. 

Perhaps  you  have  read  of  the  effect  pro- 
duced by  Jenny  Lind's  singing  of  "  Home, 
Sweet  Home,"  in  Washington  in  1850.  The 
author  of  the  famous  hymn,  John  Howard 
Payne,  himself  was  there.  President  Fill- 
more, Daniel  Webster,  Henry  Clay,  General 
Scott,  and  other  notables  were  there.  First 
she  sang  "  Casta  Diva  " — a  classic  selection — 
which  was  received  Avith  immense  applause. 
Responding  to  repeated  encores,  she  finally 
seated  herself  at  the  piano  and  began  to 
sing  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  She  forgot  her 
audience,  forgot  her  surroundings,  and  was 
back  again  in  her  native  Sweden,  back  amid 
the  old  associations  of  her  childhood.  The 
tenderness,  the  pathos,  the  infinite  yearning, 
that  spoke  in  her  song  were  overwhelming. 
The  first  verse  lifted  the  audience  off  their 
feet ;  but  when  she  finished,  they  could  not 
clap,  they  could  not  applaud,  all  they  could  do 
was  to  sob  and  weep.  Was  it  weakness? 
Was  it  an  unbecoming  surrender  to  senti- 
mentality ?  I  do  not  think  so.  Rather  I 
think   it  was   a    magnificent    tribute   to   the 


THE   IMPERILLED   HOME  81 

power  and  the  glory  and  the  beauty  of  Home. 
It  will  be  a  sad  day  for  human  society — God 
grant  that  it  may  never  come — when  the 
hearts  of  the  people  no  longer  respond  to  this 
sentiment. 

Was  it  weakness  in  President  Garfield  when 
at  his  inauguration,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
people,  he  put  such  honour  upon  his  aged 
mother,  and  thus  recognised  and  exalted  the 
home  as  the  hope  and  mainstay  of  the 
Republic?  Was  it  weakness  in  President 
McKinley,  when  on  hearing  of  his  mother's 
serious  illness,  with  tears  running  down  his 
cheeks,  he  wrote  the  following  telegram : 
"  Tell  mother  I  will  be  there  "  ?  Nay,  it  was 
strength,  it  was  manliness,  it  was  true 
nobility.  So  long  as  we  have  Presidents  who 
are  loyal  to  the  home  and  to  home  ties  and 
home  memories,  the  White  House  will  be  a 
place  to  which  we  can  point  with  pride,  and 
its  influence  upon  the  life  of  the  people  will 
be  wholesome.  That  our  Presidents  have 
been  men  pure  and  strong  and  devoted  to 
their  home  duties  and  relations  is  worth  more 
to  us  as  a  nation  than  can  well  be  put  into 
words. 

The  three  Divine  institutions  of  society  are 
the  home,  the  Church,  and  the  State.  The 
home  was  first,  and  the  home  will  be  last ;  for 

7 


82  THE  IMPERILLED  HOME 

both  Church  and  State  will  sink  out  of  sight 
in  the  perfect  home-life  of  heaven.  To  speak 
of  the  fundamental  importance  of  the  home, 
of  its  supreme  necessity  to  society,  would  be 
superflvious.  Let  the  home  go  down  and 
many  other  institutions  must  go  down  also ; 
for  the  home  is  the  chief  corner-stone  upon 
which  the  whole  social  fabric  rests.  Look 
around  among  the  people  of  the  earth,  and 
you  find  society  high  or  low,  civilised  or 
savage,  pure  or  impure,  just  in  proportion 
to  the  place  which  the  home  occupies  in 
popular  estimation.  The  difference  between 
the  cannibal  tribes  of  interior  Africa  and 
God-fearing  American  citizens  comes  more 
than  anything  else  from  the  difference  of 
their  home  life,  or  from  their  estimate  of  the 
family  relation.  Because  France  went  down 
in  her  home  life,  she  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the 
German,  who  is  a  stalwart  lover  and  champion 
of  domestic  virtue.  If  France  wants  to  win 
back  her  former  glory,  let  her  re-establish  the 
home,  and  give  honour  to  wifehood  and 
legitimacy  to  her  children.  But  we,  too,  as 
a  people  are  in  need  of  words  of  warning. 
That  the  American  home  is  beleaguered  and 
imperilled  is  only  too  evident  to  those  who 
take  the  trouble  to  look  and  consider.  Let 
me  specify  a  few  of  the  attacking  forces. 


THE   IMPERILLED   HOME  83 

I.  The  first  I  mention  is  godless  marriage. 
In  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  marriage  is 
one  of  the  sacraments.  We  Protestants  do 
not  go  as  far  as  that,  but  in  theory,  at  least, 
we  hold  that  wedlock  is  of  Divine  origin,  and 
in  the  books  we  call  it  "holy."  How  one 
man  and  one  woman  should  live  together, 
how  they  should  cleave  to  each  other  and 
supplement  each  other  in  the  family  relation 
until  severed  by  the  inexorable  hand  of 
death,  is  all  made  clear  enough  in  the  Bible. 
"  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and 
they  shall  be  one  flesh,"  "What  therefore 
God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder." 

But  this  precisely  is  what  man  dares  to  do. 
Our  blundering  legislators  presume  to  take 
the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and  do  not 
hesitate  to  usurp  the  prerogative  of  the 
Almighty.  Instead  of  accepting  the  Biblical 
doctrine  of  marriage,  with  all  its  holy  sanc- 
tions, they  proceed  to  eliminate  God  alto- 
gether, and  formulate  doctrines  and  lay 
down  laws  of  their  own.  Thus  they  divest 
it  of  its  Divine  authority  and  make  it  a 
State  as  distinguished  from  a  Divine  institu- 
tion. The  inevitable  logic  of  this  legislative 
interference    is     that    what    Colorado     hath 


84  THE  IMPERILLED  HOME 

joined  together,  or  New  York  hath  joined 
together,  or  any  other  state  hath  joined 
together,  the  State  can  put  asunder.  It  is 
certainly  obvious  that  what  God  joins  to- 
gether man  has  no  authority  to  separate. 
It  is  equally  obvious  that  a  State  marriage 
can  be  annulled  by  the  State.  How  much  of 
this  is  done  is  almost  appalling. 

This  severance  of  God  from  marriage  is  one 
of  the  greatest  perils  that  threaten  the  home 
to-day.  It  strikes  at  the  very  foundations  of 
family  life.  Let  us  think  clearly  and  boldly. 
The  foundation  of  the  State  is  the  family  ; 
the  foundation  of  the  family  is  the  marriage 
bond ;  the  strength  of  the  marriage  bond  is 
the  bridal  vow,  and  the  sanctity  of  this  vow 
is  that  it  is  made  in  the  name  of  God.  Now 
let  the  State  intermeddle,  let  it  strike  out 
the  God  element,  and  it  is  in  so  far  guilty 
of  suicide.  What  security  is  there  for  the 
home  if  its  existence  hangs  upon  the  vote 
of  legislators  or  the  ruling  of  courts?  And 
what  security  is  there  for  the  State  if,  by  its 
own  sanction,  the  homes  of  its  people  are 
afloat  on  the  emotions  and  passions,  on  the 
animosities  and  temporary  alienations  of  men 
and  women  ?  What  is  needed  everywhere  in 
this  country  is  to  emphasise  and  enforce  the 
Divine  nature   of   marriage,   to  re-introduce 


THE  IMPERILLED  HOME  85 

God  into  this  relation,  and  make  it  holy 
wedlock  indeed ;  and  in  this  effort  the  State, 
for  its  own  security,  should  reinforce  the 
Church. 

11.  As  the  logical  outcome  of  godless 
marriage  we  have  the  second  great  peril, 
viz..  Divorce.  It  is  made  so  easy  and  so 
simple  by  accommodating  legislators  that 
numberless  marriages  are  entered  into  at 
a  venture,  without  deliberation,  without 
solemnity,  with  the  feeling  that  they  can 
readily  be  nullified  if  not  found  agreeable. 
In  thousands  of  instances  there  is  little  or 
no  thought  of  the  binding  and  indissoluble 
nature  of  the  marriage  bond.  The  mutual 
commitment  of  the  wedding  service  is  not 
necessarily  regarded  as  a  commitment  for 
life.  The  courts  can  grant  release,  and  that, 
too,  for  very  trifling  and  frivolous  reasons — 
incompatibility  of  temj)er,  non-support,  de- 
sertion, cruelty,  and  numerous  other  flimsy 
pretexts,  until  the  whole  thing  is  often  little 
better  than  a  burlesque.  Think  what  must 
be  the  effect  upon  marriage  and  the  home 
when  the  contracting  parties  can  see  right 
beyond  the  bridal  altar  an  open  door  of 
separation,  through  which  they  may  pass  to 
make  another  matrimonial  venture,  and  still 
another. 


86  THE  IMPERILLED  HOME 

Every  day  our  courts  are  grinding  out 
their  grists  of  separation,  rupturing  bonds 
made  in  the  name  of  the  eternal  Father, 
splitting  homes  in  sunder,  and  undermining 
the  domestic  altars  of  the  nation.  Nearly 
all  our  states  are  exceedingly  accommodat- 
ing in  this  matter,  but  South  Dakota  enjoys 
the  unenviable  distinction  of  granting  a 
divorce  for  the  mere  asking  of  it,  the  sole 
condition  being  a  brief  sojourn  within  her 
borders.  How  all  this  beleaguers  the  home 
needs  no  words  of  mine  to  explain,  and 
Christian  people  everywhere  should  lift  vip 
their  voices  against  it. 

III.  And  what  shall  I  say  of  the  club  in 
relation  to  the  home  ?  Only  what  will  bear 
the  light,  I  trust.  Every  one  familiar  with 
history  knows  that  the  club  is  a  very  old 
institution.  Clubs  literary,  clubs  musical, 
clubs  political,  clubs  convivial,  clubs  theolo- 
gical. I  have  belonged  to  a  number  of  clubs 
myself  which  I  found  decidedly  beneficial,  so 
that  I  do  not  propose  to  make  any  indis- 
criminate criticism.  But  you  know  it  is  an 
American  characteristic  to  over-do  things 
We  have  lived  so  much  in  the  presence  of 
big  mountains,  big  rivers,  big  territory,  big 
railways,  and  colossal  enterprises  of  all  sorts 
that  we   have  unconsciously  acquired   a   dis 


THE   IMPERILLED   HOME  87 

position  to  be  extravagant  in  thought  and 
speech  and  life.  This  extravagance  enters 
into  the  very  wit  and  humour  of  our  people. 
For  example,  a  Western  Yankee,  reared  under 
the  shadow  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was 
travelling  in  Switzerland.  Asked  by  a  native 
of  that  country  if  he  had  not  noticed  the 
magnificence  of  the  Alps,  he  replied,  "Waal, 
now  I  come  to  think  of  it,  I  reckon  I  did  pass 
some  risin'  ground." 

This  chronic  habit  of  exaggeration  shows 
itself  in  every  direction,  and  nowhere  is  it 
more  pronounced  than  in  the  matter  of  clubs 
and  club  life.  If  we  could  do  things  in 
moderation  there  would  be  little  to  fear  or 
to  condemn  in  this  connection ;  but  it  is  out 
of  our  rash  and  thoughtless  intemperance 
that  the  danger  conies.  No  one  can  reason- 
ably find  fault  with  a  man  for  attending  the 
club  occasionally,  so  long  as  he  keeps  within 
bounds,  but  when  he  allows  his  club  to  draw 
him  away  from  his  own  fireside,  to  usurp  the 
place  of  the  domestic  hearthstone,  to  mono- 
polise attention  and  affections  which  ought  to 
be  given  to  his  wife  and  children,  when,  in 
one  word,  he  becomes  married  to  his  club  and 
divorced  from  his  home,  he  is  guilty  of  an 
attack  upon  the  holiest  institution  under 
the  sun. 


88  THE  IMPERILLED  HOME 

And  when  this  extravagance  is  seen  on 
the  other  side  of  the  house  the  peril  to  the 
home  is  still  greater.  That  is  to  say,  when 
a  woman,  the  mother  of  a  family,  becomes 
so  infatuated  with  the  club  that  she  loses 
interest  in  her  children,  neglects  them,  leaves 
them  to  run  the  streets,  and  form  what  asso- 
ciations they  choose,  the  danger  is  tenfold 
increased.  Neglect  of  children  is  one  of  the 
most  ominous,  most  startling  symj)toms  of 
our  times.  The  arrest  of  a  number  of  boys 
here  on  Capitol  Hill  a  few  days  ago  is  still 
fresh  in  our  minds,  and  serves  to  give  point 
to  what  I  am  now  saying.  How  much  of  this 
neglect  is  due  to  whist  clubs,  and  reading 
clubs,  and  clubs  of  one  sort  and  another,  I 
shall  not  undertake  to  say.  But  I  do  affirm 
that  in  far  too  many  instances  the  home  is 
being  clubbed  to  death.  To  such  lengths  are 
we  going  in  this  matter  of  the  club  that  a 
facetious  newspaper  writer  declares  that  the 
time  is  not  far  distant  when  John  Howard 
Payne's  famous  lyric  will  be  revised  to  read — 

"  Club,  club,  sweet,  sweet  club, 
Be  it  ever  so  humble 
There's  no  place  like  the  club." 

A  lady  said  to  me  the  other  day,  "  But  we 
women    must    have    opportunities    for    self- 


THE   IMPERILLED   HOME  89 

improvement."  Certainly,  and  there  is 
nothing  on  earth  half  so  improving,  nothing 
half  so  well  calculated  to  give  culture  and 
breadth  and  refinement  as  loyalty  to  the 
home,  and  to  home  duties  and  responsibilities. 
Other  things  being  equal,  the  mother  who 
devotes  herself  to  her  children  and  looks  well 
to  her  own  household,  will  be  richer  in  heart 
and  richer  in  thought  and  richer  in  all  that  is 
womanly,  than  the  mother  who  puts  the  chief 
emphasis  upon  the  club.  I  am  talking  now 
about  mothers  and  not  about  women  who 
have  no  children  and  no  domestic  cares. 
When  husband  or  wife  likes  any  place  on 
earth  better  than  home,  the  danger-line  has 
been  reached  and  crossed,  and  because  I  see 
danger,  because  I  see  imperilled  homes,  I  have 
been  constrained  to  say  these  words. 

IV.  Alongside  of  this  club  peril,  and  in  some 
places  as  a  part  of  it,  is  the  increasing  promi- 
nence of  the  Avinecup.  Preachers,  reformers, 
philanthropists,  and  high-minded  public  men, 
in  touch  with  social  life  and  acquainted  wdth 
its  drift,  are  beginning  to  sound  the  alarm. 
There  is  all  too  much  evidence  that  social 
drinking  is  on  the  increase.  It  seems  to  be  one 
of  the  inevitable  concomitants  of  an  over-fed, 
over-dressed,  luxurious  age.  In  our  Eastern 
papers  articles   are   becoming  quite  frequent 


90  THE  IMPERILLED   HOME 

on  the  "  Drinking  Habits  of  Women."  Speak- 
ing of  this  matter,  Mrs.  John  A.  Logan  said 
recently  :  "I  do  not  like  to  admit  that  any 
woman  ever  indulged  in  such  lamentable 
habits,  but  must  succumb  to  the  indubitable 
evidence  that  is  before  us  continually,  and 
can  only  bow  my  head  for  very  shame  for  my 
sex,  and  pray,  '  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do.'"  In  connection 
with  this,  let  me  quote  you  the  words  of  a 
distinguished  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.  Referring  to  the  alarming 
growth  of  drunkenness  among  women,  he 
said  not  long  since :  "A  short  while  ago  I 
addressed  a  meeting  of  leading  society  women 
in  New  York  City,  where  I  made  the  state- 
ment— viz.,  that  there  is  an  appalling  growth 
of  drunkenness  among  women.  It  was  proved 
that  my  statement  was  literally  correct  as 
far  as  New  York  was  concerned.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  it  appertains  to  women  and  to 
mothers,  particularly  to  those  who  have  the 
care  and  instruction  of  our  future  men  and 
women." 

Much  to  the  same  effect  is  the  statement  of 
the  Pittsburg  Dispatch  that  because  of  this 
strained  and  immoderate  social  life  stimulants 
are  becoming  an  indispensable  part  of  the 
day's   programme   for    many   women.      They 


THE  IMPERILLED  HOME  91 

are  constantly  tempted  to  brace  up  tired 
nerves  with  a  nip  of  Cognac,  or  a  glass  of 
Benedictine,  or  a  drop  of  Green  Chartreuse. 
To  such  an  extent  has  the  custom  grown  that 
fashionable  merchants  keep  a  bottle  and  a 
dainty  glass  in  a  sequestered  spot  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  society  patrons.  Indeed,  it  is 
asserted  by  those  who  are  in  a  position  to 
know  that  in  all  of  our  cities  the  abstinence  of 
a  generation  ago  is  going  out  and  intemper- 
ance coming  in  and  particularly  among 
women.  The  other  day  a  young  woman, 
elegantly  gowned  and  wearing  jewellery  worth 
$.3,000.00,  was  brought  into  the  police-court 
of  New  York  City — drunk.  She  belongs  to  a 
wealthy  and  respectable  home.  In  court  she 
testified  that  she  had  been  in  a  restaurant 
and  had  imbibed  a  little  too  freely.  And  in 
the  same  magazine  from  which  I  get  these 
facts  I  read  of  a  popular  woman's  club  in  an 
Eastern  city  which  furnished  liquor  so  abund- 
antly that  many  of  its  members  had  to  be 
sent  home  in  carriages.  The  thing  became  so 
notorious  that  the  club  in  question  found  it 
necessary  to  exclude  liquors  except  for  use  at 
meals. 

Now  my  responsibility  for  these  statements 
is  simply  that  of  quotation.  Whether  this 
condition  of  things  applies  to  Denver  I  shall 


92  THE   IMPERILLED  HOME 

not  venture  to  say.  It  certainly  does  not  to 
our  Woman's  Club.  But  all  this  indicates  a 
drift,  and  this  drift  is  against  the  home,  and 
therefore  full  of  peril.  We  know  what  drink 
is  doing  down  on  the  lower  levels  of  life  to 
destroy  this  Divine  institution ;  and  now  it 
seems  that  the  alcoholic  demon  is  getting  in 
his  work  at  the  opposite  side.  He  is  attacking 
the  home  both  from  the  bottom  and  the  top, 
grinding  it  between  the  upper  and  nether 
millstones. 

In  view  of  all  this,  then,  it  seems  to  nie 
that  my  message  this  morning  is  timely.  The 
eloquent  Grady  of  Georgia  said,  "The  home 
is  the  strength  of  the  American  Republic," 
and  to  that  doctrine  we  must  all  subscribe. 
We  must  preserve  the  home  in  all  its  purity, 
in  all  its  beauty,  in  all  its  Divine  innocence 
and  simplicity  or  go  upon  the  rocks.  The 
war-cry  of  the  old  Roman  was  ''pro  avis  et 
foots  " — "  for  our  altars  and  our  hearths,  our 
religion  and  our  home."  It  called  out  all  his 
courage,  all  his  love,  all  his  determination. 
Woe  to  the  enemy  that  approached  when  this 
was  the  issue.  These  two,  the  altar  and  the 
home,  are  linked  together.  No  man  can  be 
truly  religious  who  does  not  love  his  home ; 
and  I  doubt  whether  any  man  can  be  truly 
domestic   who    does    not    worship   God.      To 


THE  IMPERILLED   HOME  93 

defend  the  home,  to  protect  it  against  all  foes, 
whether  they  approach  through  channels  of 
atheism,  or  channels  of  impurity,  or  through 
legislative  halls,  or  through  the  printed  page, 
or  through  the  appetite  for  drink,  or  through 
false  doctrines  of  society,  should  call  out  all 
that  is  best  and  most  heroic  in  us.  Home, 
Home,  Sweet  Home — oh,  the  magic  of  that 
word  !  In  it  are  the  sunshine  of  boyhood  and 
girlhood,  and  the  thrill  and  joy  of  all  the  most 
blessed  memories  of  our  later  years.  In  it, 
when  hallowed  by  love,  and  made  bright  by 
kindness  and  unselfish  service  and  happy  by 
the  play  of  filial  and  parental  affection,  is  a 
prophecy,  a  foretaste  of  heaven. 


LIFE  FOR  LIFE 


LIFE   FOR  LIFE 

"  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood ;  and  I  have 
given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar,  to  make  an  atonement  for 
your  souls ;  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement 
for  the  soul." — Lev.  xvii.  11. 

"  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  His  blood." — 
Eph.  i.  7. 

"  And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying  :  Thou  art  worthy  to 
take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof ;  for  Thou  wast 
slain  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  blood  out  of 
every  kindred  and  tongue  and  people  and  nation." — Eev.  v.  9. 

THERE  is  no  mistaking  the  central  thought 
of  these  words.  It  stands  out  clear  as  a 
mountain  against  the  sunset.  Moses  and  Paul 
and  John  strike  precisely  the  same  note, 
whether  they  speak  from  the  point  of  view  of 
humanity  redeemed  or  of  humanity  in  need 
of  redemption.  It  is  the  blood  that  makes 
atonement  for  the  soul.  Such  was  the  lesson 
to  the  tribes  in  the  wilderness,  such  the  lesson 
to  the  Ephesian  Church,  and  such  the  theme 
of  the  new  song  in  heaven.  Evidently,  then, 
we  have  something  here  worth  thinking  about. 

8  97 


98  LIFE  FOR  LIFE 

It  has  to  do  with  the  very  core  and  substance 
of  the  Gospel.  Some  of  us  remember  how^ 
contemptuously  Theodore  Parker,  the  dis- 
tinguished Unitarian,  spoke  of  the  blood  as 
preached  by  a  large  part  of  the  Evangelical 
Church.  He  characterised  it  as  the  religion 
of  the  shambles.  It  was  coarse  and  crude 
and  repulsive  to  him.  No  doubt  the  crass 
realism  of  it  has  been  exploited  sometimes 
beyond  what  was  wise.  By  vivid  illustration 
and  graphic  description  the  attention  has 
been  fixed  upon  the  symbol  rather  than  upon 
the  thing  symbolised.  But  men  who  think 
ought  to  be  able  to  penetrate  beneath  the 
surface,  to  get  away  from  the  shadow  to  the 
substance.  Certainly  the  abuse  of  a  thing 
ought  never  to  lead  a  well-balanced  judgment 
to  reject  and  condemn  it. 

Some  of  our  most  significant  and  delightful 
hymns,  which  all  intelligent  Christians  love  to 
sing,  are  ruled  out  by  the  critics  who  insist 
upon  being  over-literal.  Take  Cowper's  cele- 
brated hymn,  for  example  : — 

*'  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 
Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins: 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood 
Lose  all  their  guilty  stains," 

and  it  is  said  to  be  an  offence  against  good 
taste,   a    song    suggestive   of    the   slaughter- 


LIFE  FOR  LIFE  99 

house,  or  of  some  place  of  carnage.  But  to 
those  who  are  not  fettered  by  any  slavish 
literalism,  and  who  see  the  profound  and 
blessed  truth  that  lies  behind,  this  hymn  and 
every  other  like  it  is  inspiring  and  beautiful. 
Think  for  a  moment,  as  another  suggests, 
of  the  unimpeachable  honesty  of  that  word 
blood.  It  is  susceptible  of  no  glosses,  or 
disguises,  or  aliases.  All  the  world  over  it 
has  but  one  meaning.  You  can  take  the 
word  love  and  you  can  dilute  it  away  into 
affection,  and  away  a  little  farther  into 
regard,  and  still  farther  away  into  esteem, 
until  it  becomes  a  sort  of  moonlight  quality 
with  all  the  original  warmth  and  glow  gone 
out  of  it.  Esteem  puts  no  tender  hand  under 
the  aching  head.  Esteem  helps  no  poor  man 
up  the  hill.  Esteem  binds  up  no  broken 
heart,  and  kindles  no  fire  on  the  hearth  that 
has  gone  out.  It  is  too  cold.  So  you  can 
shade  the  word  truth  away  through  various 
synonyms  such  as  candour,  frankness,  veracity, 
and  the  like  until  it  begins  to  mix  with  false- 
hood as  day  merges  into  night  But  take  the 
word  Blood,  and  see  what  you  can  make  of  it. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  you  cannot  soften  or 
disguise  it  or  clothe  it  in  some  other  dress, 
or  find  for  it  some  more  genteel  equivalent. 
No  matter  how  dainty  you  may  be  in  the  use 


100  LIFE   FOR  LIFE 

of  language  if  you  want  to  speak  of  blood  at 
all  you  have  got  to  say  blood,  for  the  dic- 
tionary will  not  accommodate  you  with  any 
synonyms.  The  word  blood  stands  alone,  and, 
as  another  has  said, "  is  too  simple,  too  energetic, 
too  solemn  to  take  upon  it  the  faintest  gloss 
of  the  most  reluctant  expositor.  Its  un- 
quenchable ardour  burns  through  the  snow 
which  you  scatter  upon  its  summit.  No 
winter  can  loiter  upon  those  ardent  slopes." 
The  word  melts  through  and  stands  out  in  all 
its  own  naked  and  rugged  strength.  It  is 
immensely  significant.  God  has  ordained 
that  that  upon  which  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind depends  shall  not  be  trifled  with  or 
disguised  or  softened  away  into  something 
else. 

But  now  let  us  be  very  clear  about  the 
statement  that  it  is  the  blood  that  makes 
atonement  for  the  soul,  and  that  we  have 
redemption  through  the  blood  of  Christ. 
The  text  itself  gives  us  the  interpretation, 
for  it  declares  plainly  that  the  life  of  the 
flesh  is  in  the  blood.  It  seems  a  little  re- 
markable, does  it  not,  that  this  statement  of 
a  modern  scientific  fact  should  have  been 
made  to  the  desert  tribes  of  Israel  nearly 
four  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  not  so  very 
long     since     the     discovery    was     made     by 


LIFE   FOR  LIFE  101 

anatomists  that  the  vitality  of  the  entire 
bodily  structure  is  in  the  blood.  But  that 
which  is  a  truism  of  physical  science  to-day 
was  a  fact  of  revelation  far  back  in  the  dim 
dawn  of  the  world's  history.  How  did  Moses 
come  to  know  that  the  blood  is  the  life? 
Think  it  out,  and  while  you  are  doing  that 
let  me  say  that  according  to  our  text,  and 
according  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
everywhere,  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by 
blood  is  simply  the  doctrine  of  life  for  life. 
Remember  the  life  is  in  the  blood,  and  hence 
when  we  say  that  we  are  saved  by  the  blood 
of  Christ  we  mean  simply  that  He  gave  His 
life  for  our  life.  Any  man  who  stumbles  over 
that  must  stumble  with  his  eyes  open.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  there  are  no  depths  in 
it  which  we  cannot  fathom ;  for  there  are, 
but  the  practical  working  of  the  great 
doctrine  of  life  for  life  is  too  plain  and  too 
universal  to  be  mistaken. 

Look  around  you  in  the  world  and  it  is  life  for 
life  everywhere.  The  very  coal  that  warms  our 
houses  and  drives  our  engines  comes  from  life 
that  has  died.  Every  stalk  of  corn,  every 
blooming  flower,  every  waving  tree,  proclaims 
the  great  principle.  They  grow  and  flourish 
because  something  sacrificed  life  for  them.  If 
there  are  to  be  living  beings  anywhere  on  this 


102  LIFE   FOR  LIFE 

earth  of  ours,  other  lives  must  be  surren- 
dered for  them.  "  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall 
into  the  ground  and  die  it  abideth  alone "  ; 
there  is  no  increase,  no  multiplication ;  "  but 
if  it  die  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  That 
is  the  la^v.  Life  comes  through  death.  Plants 
live  upon  plants,  insects  upon  insects,  animals 
upon  animals,  and  men  not  only  upon  men, 
but  upon  all  the  lower  orders  of  life  besides. 
Whether  we  are  vegetarians  or  meat-eaters, 
whether  we  dress  a  la  mode  or  in  rural  sim- 
plicity, if  we  are  to  be  clothed,  and  shod,  and 
fed  at  all,  it  must  be  at  the  expense  of 
innocent  lives  that  have  suffered.  If  to-day 
when  we  go  home  and  sit  down  about  our 
well-laden  tables,  smoking  with  toothsome 
viands,  we  were  to  think  back  to  the  sources 
of  supply  I  am  very  sure  we  should  come  to 
blood.  So  if  we  were  to  trace  our  comfortable 
coats  and  our  elegant  hats  and  all  our  wearing 
apparel  to  their  origin  we  should  certainly 
find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  blood.  Think 
of  the  animals  that  are  killed.  Think  of  the 
lives  that  are  slain,  of  the  fingers  that  ache, 
of  the  backs  that  are  made  weary,  of  the  feet 
that  are  blistered,  to  provide  food  and  raiment 
for  us. 

This  law  of  substitution,  of  life  for  life,  of 
pang  for  pang,  of  blood  for  blood,  is  wrought 


LIFE  FOR  LIFE  103 

into  the  very  constitution  of  things.  As  well 
quarrel  with  the  law  of  gravitation  or  any 
other  great  law  of  nature.  It  surprises  me 
sometimes  to  hear  men  of  intelligence  making 
light  of  the  doctrine  of  substitution,  rejecting 
in  religion  what  they  are  compelled  to  ac- 
cept in  all  the  material  and  domestic  and 
social  world  around  them.  How  strange  in 
them  to  regard  the  great  principle  of  substi- 
tution in  Christianity  as  something  abnormal, 
something  eccentric  and  solitary,  when  they 
cannot  pass  among  their  fellow-men  from 
sunrise  to  sunset  without  seeing  the  very 
same  principle  in  operation  everywhere!  The 
fields  and  hills  are  full  of  it ;  and  what  is 
more  to  the  point,  society  and  business  are 
full  of  it. 

I  know  business  men,  not  a  thousand  miles 
from  here,  and  so  do  you,  who  are  liter- 
ally wearing  themselves  out.  From  early 
morning  till  late  at  night  they  are  straining 
and  striving,  figuring  and  calculating,  ex- 
hausting their  nerve-force  and  their  vitality, 
until  they  are  pale  and  pinched  and  ready  to 
break  down.  They  are  old  at  fifty,  distressed 
by  insomnia,  made  wretched  and  miserable 
by  dyspepsia,  almost  on  the  point  of  tumbling 
into  the  grave,  poor,  overworked  souls  with 
all  the  fire  and  vigour  of  their  younger  years 


104  LIFE   FOR  LIFE 

consumed  away.  How  is  it  to  be  accounted 
for  ?  Is  it  because  they  enjoy  it  ?  No  ;  it  is 
difficult  to  see  where  the  enjoyment  comes 
into  a  treadmill  life  of  that  kind.  Is  it 
because  they  are  grasping  and  greedy  of  gain 
and  sacrificing  themselves  on  the  altar  of 
Mammon  ?  No ;  in  thousands  of  cases  that 
will  not  explain  their  suffering  and  self-immo- 
lation. Is  it  because  they  are  extravagant 
and  are  foolishly  striving  to  maintain  a 
certain  style  of  living  ?  No ;  that  will  not 
account  for  it.  They  are  plain  and  simple  in 
their  personal  habits,  and  have  no  ambition 
to  cut  a  figure  in  society. 

Why,  then,  do  they  do  it?  Why  do  they 
toil  and  suffer  and  deny  themselves  at  such 
a  rate?  The  answer  is  not  far  to  seek. 
There  are  wives  to  be  cared  for,  homes  to 
be  kept  up,  children  to  be  supported  and 
educated  and  started  in  the  world.  That 
office,  that  counting-room,  that  store,  that 
shop,  is  linked  to  a  home  where  the  dear 
ones  are.  For  them  these  faithful  bread- 
winners work  and  overwork  until  sometimes 
their  brains  throb  in  warning  that  the  end 
is  not  far  away.  More  men  fall  in  that  battle 
every  year  than  fell  in  winning  the  indepen- 
dence of  Cuba.  What  is  all  this  but  the 
principle    of    substitution,    fathers    suffering 


LIFE  FOR  LIFE  105 

that  their  households  may  not  suffer,  becom- 
ing weak  and  weary  that  loved  ones  at 
home  may  become  strong?  If  that  is  not 
life  for  life,  what  is  it? 

And  on  the  mother-side  of  the  house  the 
great  truth  has  even  more  frequent  illus- 
tration. You  can  see  pathetic  and  beautiful 
incarnations  of  it  beneath  a  thousand  roofs. 
Mothers  sewing  and  stitching  and  wasting 
themselves  away  for  their  children,  every 
day  growing  paler  and  weaker,  bearing  heavy 
crosses  on  delicate  shoulders,  toiling  up  inevi- 
table Calvaries  for  the  sake  of  little  ones  who 
cannot  help  themselves.  Our  cities  are  full 
of  them.  Frail  women  in  the  hard,  stern 
struggle  of  life,  fighting  their  very  lives  away 
in  the  battle  for  bread,  carrying  burdens 
which  no  man  could  carry,  their  whole  exist- 
ence a  ceaseless  martyrdom,  for  the  dear  little 
innocent  ones  who  cry  for  mother.  In  all  the 
world  there  is  nothing  nobler,  nothing  more 
heroic.  Some  day  they  sicken,  their  weary 
heads  drop,  their  thin  hands  fall  by  their 
sides,  the  doctor  is  summoned,  but  it  is  too 
late.  They  slip  away  into  untimely  graves. 
The  physician  may  call  it  nervous  prostration, 
or  consumption,  or  fever,  or  anything  else  he 
likes  ;  but  I  call  it  substitution,  life  for  life. 
The  mother  for  the  child. 


106  LIFE   FOR  LIFE 

With  what  absorbing  interest  I  have 
followed  the  story  of  David  Livingstone  and 
his  matchless  heroisms !  Repetition  instead 
of  making  such  a  story  stale  and  flat  only 
heightens  the  interest  of  it.  Fiction  is  tame 
and  romance  is  dull  compared  with  the 
rehearsal  of  the  unadorned  facts  of  Living- 
stone's career.  Think  of  a  great,  strong,  cap- 
able, highly  educated  man  leaving  his  native 
lancf^  leaving  all  the  comforts  and  advantages 
of  civilisation,  pushing  through  swamp  and 
jungle  and  forest ;  braving  perils  of  wild 
beasts  and  of  wilder  men,  gladly  accepting 
the  crushing  and  unspeakable  solitude  and 
isolation  of  interior  Africa,  in  order  that  he 
might  suffer  and  die  for  the  poor  degraded 
black  man.  Racked  by  disease,  tortured  by 
fever,  pierced  by  pain,  crippled  with  ulcers 
on  his  feet  until  every  step  was  an  agony, 
he  nevertheless  held  on,  inspired  by  the 
mighty  love  of  his  mighty  heart.  At  last 
Stanley  came.  Deliverance  was  at  hand. 
Surely  he  had  earned  the  right  to  go  home. 
But  no,  Africa,  poor  bleeding,  neglected 
Africa,  was  on  his  soul,  and  in  Africa  he 
stayed,  dying  in  a  little  grass  hut  on  his 
knees,  his  last  act,  his  last  word  a  prayer 
for  Africa,  and  that  prayer  stands  chiselled 
upon  his   tombstone   in   Westminster   Abbey 


LIFE   FOR   LIFE  107  • 

to-day.  His  whole  history  gathers  itself  up 
into  one  great  word — Substitution.  Life  for 
life.  As  long  as  the  Avaves  of  the  ocean  beat 
out  their  solemn  music  on  the  shores  of  that 
land,  they  will  never  cease  to  chant  the  name 
of  Livingstone  and  say,  "  He  died  for  Africa." 
Everything  else  pales  before  the  grandeur 
and  sublimity  of  vicarious  sacrifice,  the  spirit 
that  leads  one  person  to  suffer  for  another. 
Whatever  is  loftiest  in  poetry,  whatever  is 
most  overpowering  in  eloquence,  whatever 
is  most  imperishable  in  romance,  whatever 
is  most  touching  and  immortal  in  art,  comes 
from  this  principle.  We  praise  our  soldiers 
in  time  of  war,  we  strew  flowers  in  their 
path,  we  break  down  with  emotion  when 
they  march  away  to  the  front,  because  they 
are  going  to  suffer  for  others,  to  shed  their 
blood  for  their  fellow-men. 

When  Memorial  Day  comes,  many  an  elo- 
quent word  will  be  spoken  about  the  men 
who  more  than  a  generation  ago  marched  to 
the  front  and  went  down  into  the  battle's  hell 
to  keep  our  flag  in  the  air.  But  at  the  very 
heart  of  what  they  did  was  this  great  thought 
of  substitution,  They  endured  hardship  and 
death  for  us. 

Take  this  principle  out  of  the  home  and 
you   convert   it  into  a  mere   boarding-house. 


108  LIFE  FOR  LIFE 

Take  it  out  of  society  and  you  make  it  an 
endless  scramble  for  selfish  conquest. 

Take  this  principle  of  substitution,  of  life 
for  life,  out  of  literature,  take  it  out  of 
history,  let  our  libraries  be  made  up  of 
matters  commercial  and  matters  political  only ; 
of  buying  and  selling  and  getting  office  and 
the  details  of  Legislatures  and  Congresses, 
and  they  would  be  as  dry  as  the  Humboldt 
desert  yonder  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
On  every  path  leading  to  such  libraries  the 
grass  would  grow,  and  over  their  doors  the 
spider  would  weave  his  web  undisturbed. 

And  this  principle,  dear  friends,  is  funda- 
mental in  the  religion  of  the  Cross.  It  runs 
all  through  the  Bible  as  the  mother-lode  runs 
through  the  range.  Type  and  shadow  and 
symbol  and  altar  and  sacrifice  all  find  their 
explanation  in  the  sublime,  the  heavenly 
thought  of  substitution,  life  for  life.  They  all 
point  forward  to  Calvary  as  every  gray  streak 
of  dawn  along  the  morning  sky  points 
forward  to  the  splendours  of  noonday.  All 
the  hints  of  vicarious  suffering  in  nature,  and 
all  the  suggestions  and  exhibitions  of  substi- 
tution among  men,  in  store,  and  shop,  and 
home,  and  missionary  land,  and  battle-field, 
Christ  gathers  up  and  focalises  and  gives 
them  their  supreme  manifestation  once  for  all 


LIFE  FOR  LIFE  109 

in  the  place  of  skulls.  When  did  ever  mother 
suffer,  or  father  suffer,  or  missionary  suffer,  or 
soldier  suffer,  as  Jesus  suffered,  who  concen- 
trated and  carried  in  His  holy  heart  all  the 
woes,  all  the  sorrows,  all  the  sins  of  the  world  ? 
A  very  eloquent  and  distinguished  man  tells 
us  that  one  time  he  was  exploring  the  slums 
of  a  great  city.  He  saw  the  poor  down  there 
in  their  wretched  tenements  without  light, 
without  ventilation,  in  the  grip  of  misery  and 
squalor  and  filth  and  disease.  The  rags,  the 
vileness,  the  moral  abomination  were  awful. 
It  seemed  as  though  some  dark  under-world 
had  spewed  up  its  loathsome  contents  to 
poison  and  curse  the  earth.  It  made  him 
sick  at  heart,  and  he  said,  "How  does  the 
heart  of  God  stand  it?  Why  doesn't  the 
heart  of  God  break  ? "  He  walked  on  and 
the  sights  grew  worse  and  worse.  He  saw 
little  children  gathering  up  scraps  of  decayed 
fruit  from  the  gutters  and  eagerly  eating 
them.  He  saw  Want  staring  at  him  out  of 
its  great,  gaunt,  hungry  eyes,  and  again  he 
said,  "  Why  doesn't  the  heart  of  God  break  ?  " 
Then,  while  he  thought  and  brooded  over  it 
until  his  whole  soul  was  burdened  and  crushed 
and  exhausted,  he  seemed  to  see  a  vision  and 
to  hear  a  voice.  He  saw  Jesus,  poor  and 
hungry   and   homeless.      He    saw   Hina   with 


no  LIFE  FOR  LIFE 

tears  in  His  eyes,  and  hounds  of  persecution 
on  His  track,  going  up  to  Jerusalem.  He  saw 
Him  with  thorns  on  His  broTV,  with  nails 
through  His  hands  and  His  feet,  stretched 
upon  the  cross,  and  just  before  His  head  fell 
forward  on  His  breast,  this  was  the  voice  He 
seemed  to  hear,  "  God's  heart  has  broken.  It 
broke  yonder  on  Calvary." 

Men  and  women,  the  vision  and  the  voice 
were  true.  Not  only  for  the  poor  and  the 
wretched  and  the  miserable  ;  not  only  for  the 
prodigal  and  the  castaway ;  not  only  for  the 
man  who  slimes  his  way  with  the  w^orm  and 
stands  with  both  feet  in  hell,  but  for  you,  for 
me,  God's  heart  has  broken.  That  is  what  we 
mean  by  the  blood,  and  I  pity  the  person  who 
can  speak  of  such  a  sacrifice,  such  an  exhibi- 
tion of  love  as  the  religion  of  the  shambles. 
If  that  sacrifice,  that  substitution  of  life  for 
life,  does  not  touch  us  and  attract  us,  and 
make  us  ashamed  of  our  selfishness  and  our 
sins ;  if  it  does  not  stir  our  gratitude  and 
stimulate  our  generosity,  and  cause  the  springs 
of  our  benevolence  to  flow,  we  must  be  stony 
and  impervious  indeed — dead  to  everything 
noble,  everything  sublime.  But  I  am  per- 
suaded better  things  of  you.  To-day  in  God's 
name  and  for  the  extension  of  His  kingdom 
and  glory,  I  lay  before  you  the  appeal  of 
Blood,  of  life  for  life. 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 


"And    the    disciples    were    called    Christians   first    in 
Antioch." — Acts  xi.  26. 


IT  is  interesting  to  note  how  many  of  the 
great  movements  of  history  got  their 
names.  Given  in  derision  and  scorn  by  the 
wits  of  the  time,  they  were  promptly  adopted, 
and  grew  to  be  names  of  glory.  Puritan, 
Methodist,  Wesleyan,  Quaker,  Protestant,  may 
be  mentioned  as  examples.  Among  these 
must  be  classed  the  name  Christian.  It  was 
spoken  in  contempt  by  the  witty  inhabitants 
of  Antioch;  it  fell  from  their  lips  with  an 
accent  of  disdain,  and  was  flung  at  the 
followers  of  Jesus  as  an  epithet  of  disgrace  ; 
but  to-day  it  outranks  every  other  name. 
For  dignity,  for  honour,  for  noble  significance, 
no  other  designation  can  compare  with  it  for  a 
moment.  In  its  content  no  other  word 
attached  to  men  or  to  the  movements  of  men 
holds  so  much. 

9  us 


114      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

So  great  has  it  grown  to  be,  so  full  of 
Divine  meaning,  that  the  world  expects  more 
from  the  Christian  than  from  any  other  man. 
Nay,  it  expects  more  from  the  humblest 
follower  of  Jesus  than  from  the  most  polished 
and  scholarly  scoffer  or  atheist.  The  very 
men  in  the  community  who  despise  your  faith 
demand  from  you  the  very  highest  moral 
conduct  because  of  that  faith.  They  will 
laugh  at  your  creed,  and  ridicule  your 
theology,  and  run  the  knife  of  irreverent 
criticism  through  your  Bible,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  look  for  a  higher  type  of 
life  in  you  than  in  any  other  class  of  persons 
whatsoever.  This  is  enough  to  show  the 
supreme  place  the  name  Christian  occupies 
in  the  thought  of  the  world.  I  congratulate 
those  of  you  this  morning  who  have  a  right 
to  bear  this  glorious  name,  and  are  not 
ashamed  of  it ;  and  I  devoutly  hope  that 
those  who  do  not  bear  it  now  may  make 
haste  to  assume  it  as  the  proudest  of  all 
privileges,  and  as  the  badge  of  the  highest 
earthly  honour. 

In  my  sermon  to-day  I  propose  to  go 
back  to  first  j)rinciples,  and  deal  with 
some  very  elementary  truths,  even  at  the 
risk  of  leading  you  over  the  beaten  track. 
In    doing     so     I    am     sure     you     will    bear 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN     115 

with  me  for  the  sake  of  what  I  have  in 
mind. 

I.  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian?  Let  me 
address  myself  to  that  question  for  a  moment. 
To  make  it  just  as  clear  as  possible,  I  shall 
answer  first  by  two  or  three  negatives. 

(1)  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  to  accept  a 
certain  creed,  or  to  subscribe  to  certain 
theological  beliefs.  You  will  not  misunder- 
stand me.  I  believe  in  doctrine.  I  venerate 
the  work  of  the  immortal  thinkers  and 
students  of  the  deep  things  of  God  who  for- 
mulated our  confessions  of  faith.  Only  the 
shallow  and  thoughtless  can  laugh  at  what 
they  have  done.  But  at  the  same  time  all 
the  creeds  and  theologies  of  Christendom, 
subscribed  to  and  mastered,  can  never  make 
a  man  a  Christian.  A  man  may  be  as 
orthodox  as  the  devil  himself  and  quite  as 
unworthy  to  be  called  a  disciple  of  Jesus. 

A  hungry  person  is  no  more  saved  from 
starvation  by  accepting  the  scientific  man's 
teachings  about  the  chemistry  of  bread,  and 
the  working  of  the  yeast  in  the  unbaked  loaf, 
than  a  man  becomes  a  Christian  by  subscrib- 
ing to  a  certain  creed.  No  traveller  gets 
across  a  bridge  by  accepting  the  architect's 
statements  as  to  its  strength  and  soundness 
and  reliability ;  and  yet  the  architect's  creed 


116      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

is  not  to  be  despised.  The  point  to  be  seized 
upon  is  that  it  is  not  relation  to  a  system  that 
makes  a  man  a  Christian,  but  relation  to  the 
Saviour. 

(2)  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  simply  to 
believe  in  God  and  to  do  what  you  think  is 
right.  That  ideal  is  not  even  up  to  the  level 
of  the  Mohammedan,  or  the  Buddhist,  or  the 
Jew.  Every  devout  follower  of  the  prophet 
of  Mecca,  every  pious  Hindu,  every  orthodox 
Hebrew,  would  say  at  once  that  true  religion 
"consists  not  in  doing  what  you  think  is 
right,  but  in  doing  what  God  thinks  is  right." 

(3)  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  simply  to  be 
what  we  call  a  good  man.  If  it  were,  we 
would  never  have  had  that  interview  of 
Jesus  with  Nicodemus  by  night.  There  are 
men  w^ho  are  honest  and  kind,  truthful  and 
loving,  who  take  no  account  of  Christ  w^hat- 
ever,  give  Him  no  place  in  their  lives,  never 
pray  to  Him,  or  worship  Him,  or  manifest 
toward  Him  the  slightest  affection.  They 
reject  His  authority,  they  deny  His  claims, 
they  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  His  salva- 
tion. Can  such  men  be  called  Christians  ? 
Yes,  when  we  can  have  "  Hamlet "  with  Hamlet 
left  out,  or  sunshine  without  the  sun,  or  life 
without  the  vital  principle.  This  is  not  to 
deny  the  reality  of  the  moral  virtues  of  these 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN      117 

men  ;  it  is  simply  to  deny  that  they  have  any 
right  to  the  name  Christian. 

(4)  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  necessarily  to 
,.rperience  the  short,  sharp,  decisive  ujpheaval 
of  soul  called  conversion  as  the  preliminary 
step.  Some  have  this,  some  have  not.  Paul 
had,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  John,  or 
James,  or  Matthew  ever  passed  through  such 
an  experience.  Some  of  the  most  devoted 
and  genuine  Christians  I  have  ever  known 
are  unable  to  point  to  any  special  day  or  hour 
when  the  change  came.  They  only  know 
that  they  love  the  Saviour,  and  no  earthly 
prize  could  tempt  them  to  give  Him  up. 

(5)  Now  these  negatives,  I  think,  clearly 
indicate  the  positive.  To  be  a  Christian  is 
first  and  last  and  midst  a  personal  relation 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Love  for  Him, 
devotion  to  Him,  enthronement  of  Him  in 
the  affections,  in  the  will,  in  the  whole  life — 
that  is  what  it  means.  It  is  the  union  of  my 
soul,  your  soul,  with  Christ  as  the  branch  is 
in  the  vine  and  the  vine  in  the  branch.  All 
other  questions  are  subsidiary  and  unessential ; 
this  personal  relationship  is  vital  and  funda- 
mental. The  poet  goes  to  the  very  core  of  it 
when  he  sings — 

"  If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  man, 
And  only  a  man,  I  say 


118      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

That  of  all  mankind  I  will  cleave  to  Him 
And  cleave  to  Him  alway. 

If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  God, 

And  the  only  God,  I  swear 

I  will  follow  Him  through  heaven  and  hell, 

The  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  air." 

That  is  what  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,  to 
be  loyally,  devotedly,  unalterably  attached 
to  Christ.  Begin  there  and  everything  else 
will  take  care  of  itself.  Doctrines  and  creeds 
will  fall  into  their  proper  places,  morality 
will  be  shot  through  and  through  with  life, 
and  conversion  will  be  a  matter  of  daily 
occurrence,  a  daily  pledge  of  fealty  to  Jesus. 

II.  But  now  let  me  show  you  very  simply 
and  plainly  hoio  to  hecojne  a  Christian.  The 
question  is  not  one  that  relates  to  perfect 
sainthood,  or  to  a  life  in  Christ  Jesus  fully 
completed  and  rounded  out.  I  am  not  talking 
about  the  finished  product,  or  about  the 
splendidly  matured  and  ripened  result,  but 
simply  about  starting.  It  is  not  the  perfect 
scholar  I  have  in  my  mind,  but  the  disciple 
at  his  first  lessons.  Once  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  I  saw  the  raw  sugar  cane  go  in 
at  one  end  of  the  mill,  pass  through  process 
after  process,  until  finally  it  came  out  at 
the  other  end  the  perfected  sugar  of  com- 
merce.    What  I  am  concerning  myself  about 


ON   BECOMING  A   CHRISTIAN      119 

here,  if  you  will  pardon  the  figure,  is  the 
first  step  in  the  great  mill  of  Christ — the 
point  where  the  raw  material  enters.  Are 
you  willing  to  begin  to  be  a  Christian  ?  Will- 
ing by  an  act  of  will,  by  the  crystallisation 
of  all  your  hopes  and  all  your  desires  into 
one  supreme  resolution,  to  begin  your  life 
over  again  by  deliberately  entering  the  school 
of  Christ? 

I  say  nothing  now  about  feeling.  Primarily 
this  question  of  becoming  a  Christian  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  emotions. 
You  do  not  go  to  your  business  day  after 
day,  or  engage  in  this  enterprise  or  that,  or 
walk  the  road  of  commercial  or  professional 
activity,  under  the  inspiration  of  feeling. 
Indeed,  if  you  consulted  your  feelings  you 
would  often  stay  at  home.  But  you  gird 
yourself  by  a  higher  power,  you  come  under 
the  magisterial  direction  of  the  will.  You 
choose,  and,  choosing,  this  and  that  duty 
is  done.  So  in  pointing  out  the  ho^o  of  becom- 
ing a  Christian  I  put  the  emphasis  where 
Jesus  did — upon  the  icill.  "  Whosoever  ivill." 
"  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  luilt."  "  Ye 
will  not  come  unto  Me  that  ye  might  have 
life."  Every  great  act  in  human  history  and 
in  the  history  of  the  individual  is  done  by 
the    exercise    of    ivill.      Reason    may    argue, 


120      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

judgment  may  sift  and  weigh,  desire  may 
incline  the  life  in  a  certain  direction,  and 
imagination  may  intensify  the  longings  by 
painting  beautiful  pictures ;  but  the  enginery 
of  manhood  and  womanhood  never  moves 
to  definite  action  until  the  will  turns  on 
the  steam. 

We  must  distinguish  between  willing  and 
wishing,  between  doing  and  desiring.  I  have 
seen  cards  used  in  evangelistic  meetings 
which  read :  "  I  desire  to  lead  henceforth  a 
Christian  life."  But  that  is  far  too  weak 
to  accomplish  anything.  I  doubt  whether 
there  is  a  person  here  to-day  who  does  not 
desire  to  be  a  Christian.  The  wish,  I  believe, 
is  in  every  heart.  Your  very  presence  here 
is  evidence  of  that.  But  wishing  to  be  warm 
will  not  build  a  fire.  Wishing  to  be  rich 
will  not  bring  you  wealth.  Wishing  to  go 
to  Europe  will  not  take  you  there.  I  suppose 
there  is  not  a  ragged  tramp  in  the  country, 
or  a  lazy  lounger  about  the  street  corner, 
who  does  not  desire  to  be  the  possessor  of 
a  fortune  ;  but  he  desires  to  be  lazy  a 
good  deal  more — therefore  he  stays  where 
he  is.  I  suppose  a  great  many  of  us  would 
like  to  be  scholars,  but  the  road  is  hard ; 
we  desire  ease  and  leisure  more  than  appli- 
cation, and  so  remain  a  long  way  this   side 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN     121 

of  the  promised  land.  Men  are  full  of  desires 
and  day-dreams  and  like-to-be's,  but  only 
those  who  choose,  achieve ;  only  those  who 
will,  win.  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  the 
wretched  denizens  of  Market  Street  down 
here,  and  the  wretched  lives  that  drift  about 
through  our  cities  everywhere,  have  longings 
to  be  better,  impulses  to  get  back  again 
to  the  good.  I  am  sure  the  drunkard  and 
•the  debauchee  have  luminous  moments  when 
they  crave  for  something  higher  than  revelry 
and  sin ;  but,  alas  !  they  do  not  choose,  and 
so  stay  in  the  gutter  and  in  the  mire. 

You  see,  then,  where  I  lay  the  stress — 
and  I  do  it  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  God's  work — viz.,  upon  the 
loill.  But  I  hear  some  one  ask :  "Can  I  change 
my  conduct,  can  I  reconstruct  my  character, 
can  I  lift  myself  out  of  the  old  grooves, 
cut  loose  from  all  things  that  are  wrong, 
and  become  a  thorough  and  complete  Chris- 
tian all  in  a  moment  ?  Can  choosing  work 
such  a  radical  transformation  as  this  instan- 
taneously ?  "  No,  it  cannot.  I  teach  nothing 
of  the  kind ;  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind 
in  the  Bible.  It  is  a  long,  long  road  from 
Peter  the  fisherman  to  Peter  the  martyr. 
A  long,  long  road  from  the  child  in  the 
kindergarten  to  the  senior  in  the  university. 


122      ON   BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

But  the  Peter  who  first  heard  Christ's  "  follow 
Me"  and  obeyed  was  just  as  truly  in  the 
school  of  Jesus  as  Peter  the  ripe  and  vener- 
able apostle  ;  the  little  tot  in  the  kindergarten 
is  just  as  much  in  the  realm  of  education 
as  the  university  graduate  on  Commencement 
Day. 

I  am  not  telling  you  how  to  be  a  perfect 
Christian  all  in  a  moment  ;  but  how  to  begin 
to  be  an  imperfect  Christian  right  here 
and  now.  A  man  cannot  make  a  complete 
journey  in  an  instant,  but  he  can  begin 
instantly.  He  cannot  wash  himself  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  but  he  can  begin  to 
wash.  He  cannot  build  a  perfect  house  by 
a  solitary  act  of  will ;  but  he  can  begin  to 
build.  There  was  that  young  man  in  the 
far  country  among  the  swine.  He  did  not 
get  back  to  the  old  home  at  one  step,  but 
there  was  a  first  step,  and  that  first  step 
determined  all  the  rest.  To  become  a  Chris- 
tian is  simply  to  start  on  a  journey,  to  begin 
to  wash,  to  enter  a  school,  to  lay  the  first 
stone  of  your  life-house  upon  the  Rock,  and 
then,  having  begun,  to  follow  on,  to  persevere 
to  press  toward  the  mark,  higher  and  higher, 
until  perfection  is  reached  in  another  world. 

Now  I  know  there  are  people  whose  ideal 
of  the   Christian   life   is  very  high — so   high 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN      123 

that  often  it  is  made  an  excuse  for  refusing 
to  enter  the  school  of  Christ  at  all.  The 
ideal  certainly  cannot  be  too  high ;  but  better 
have  no  ideal  whatever  than  make  it  so 
exalted  as  to  paralyse  all  effort,  looking  away 
to  glorious  mountain  heights  which  we  have 
no  heart  to  climb.  "But,"  you  say,  "what 
right  have  I  to  call  myself  a  Christian  if  I 
do  not  measure  up  to  the  New  Testament 
standard?  What  right  have  I  to  enroll  my- 
self as  a  loyal  soldier  if  I  do  not  fully  obey 
the  great  Captain's  commands  ?  "  It  is  enough 
to  reply  that  no  child  is  turned  out  of  school 
for  one  bad  lesson,  or  two,  or  a  dozen,  if 
the  teacher  knows  that,  on  the  whole,  the 
child  is  trying  to  be  a  good  pupil,  and  is 
daily  striving  to  overcome  his  dulness  and 
to  grow  in  knowledge.  No  boy  or  girl  is 
ever  expelled  from  the  home  because  they 
fail  to  come  up  to  the  ideal  of  filial  obedience 
and  affection.  They  slip,  they  fall,  they 
make  a  thousand  mistakes,  they  are  full 
of  faults  and  failures  and  shortcomings ; 
often  they  cause  father  and  mother  a  great 
deal  of  pain  and  anxiety,  sometimes  sorrow 
and  heartache ;  but  the  parents  know  that 
at  the  bottom  the  children  still  love  them  ; 
know  that  they  mean  to  be  loyal,  that  they 
mean   to   do   better   and   to  struggle  up,  and 


124      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

so  they  bear  with  them,  and  never  for  a 
moment  entertain  the  thought  that  the 
children  should  be  driven  forth.  Well,  dear 
friends,  God  is  infinitely  more  tender,  more 
patient,  more  loving  towards  us  than  we 
are  toward  our  children,  or  than  any  teacher 
is  toward  his  scholars.  If  when  you  begin 
to  be  a  Christian  you  mean  to  obey,  mean 
to  be  honest  and  earnest,  mean  to  resist  evil, 
mean  to  do  and  be  the  right  thing  ;  if  you 
are  pained  when  you  go  astray,  wounded 
when  you  do  w^rong,  and  seek  always  to 
do  better,  Christ  will  take  your  will  for 
the  deed,  your  purpose  for  the  performance, 
and  the  ruling  choice  of  your  life  will  be 
counted  unto  you  for  righteousness. 

I  do  not  believe  you  can  pain  the  Master 
more  than  to  take  the  position  that  He  calls 
you  to  a  life  too  high  for  you  to  lead,  asks 
you  to  be  something  you  never  can  attain 
unto,  points  you  to  summits  of  character  you 
can  never  reach,  mocks  you  by  holding  up 
an  ideal  you  can  never  realise.  Oh,  it  is  not, 
it  cannot  be  so.  What  He  asks  He  enables 
men  to  perform.  Only  begin,  take  the  first 
step,  make  the  choice,  make  it  now ;  here 
in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  with  all 
your  soul  and  mind  and  strength  determine 
to  make  the  wish  of  Christ  the  supreme  law 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN      125 

of  your  life,  and  trust  Him  for  the  rest. 
Once  within  the  gate,  once  on  redemption 
ground,  you  surely  can  depend  upon  the 
Redeemer  to  carry  you  through. 

III.  Having  shown  you  the  hoio,  let  me 
now  give  you  a  reason  or  two  as  to  tohy 
you  should  be  a  Christian. 

1.  First  of  all  because  it  is  right.  That 
plants  us  upon  solid  rock.  I  might  put  it 
in  the  form  of  a  syllogism.  The  highest 
goodness  of  which  we  can  conceive  is  the 
greatest  thing  in  the  world.  Every  man's 
duty  is  to  seek  after  the  highest  goodness. 
The  highest  goodness  of  which  the  world 
has  any  knowledge  is  incarnated  in  Christ. 
That  argument,  I  believe,  is  sound  and  will 
not  be  seriously  challenged.  If  there  is 
anything  in  the  universe  so  great,  anything 
so  noble,  anything  so  supremely  fair  and 
beautiful  as  goodness,  it  has  never  yet  been 
named  ;  and  in  the  Son  of  God  this  abstract 
quality  has  been  made  flesh.  In  Him  it  walks 
and  talks  and  loves.  Therefore  it  must  be 
right,  absolutely  and  unquestionably  right, 
to  have  one's  life  rooted  and  nourished  in 
Him.  I  appeal  directly  to  every  man's 
conscience.  Is  there  a  person  in  the  house 
who,  in  his  innermost  soul,  can  deny  that 
it   is   right  to  be   a  Christian  !     If   therefore 


126      ON  BECOMING  A   CHRISTIAN 

you  want  above  all  else  to  do  what  is  right, 
to  love  what  is  good  and  with  your  whole 
soul  seek  after  it,  and  day  by  day  translate 
it  into  your  life,  you  will  delay  no  longer 
to  become  a  follower  of  Jesus. 

2.  Second,  you  should  be  a  Christian  because 
you  need  Christ's  help  in  the  stress  and  strain 
of  daily  experience.  I  know  you  are  strong, 
I  know  you  are  broad-shouldered,  I  know 
how  self-sufficient  you  often  feel ;  but  I  know 
also  that  there  come  times  when,  like  Peter, 
you  realise  that  you  cannot  go  upon  the 
waves  alone.  You  sink,  the  billows  rise 
about  you  and  you  are  conscious  of  the  need 
of  some  almighty  hand  to  bear  you  up.  I 
know  that  in  the  intervals  of  life,  when  the 
pressure  of  business  is  off,  and  sometimes 
even  in  its  grind  and  whirl  your  best  self, 
your  deepest  self,  longs  for  the  help,  the 
uplift,  the  inspiration  of  Him  who  is  mighty 
to  save.  I  know  how  hard  the  fight  with 
the  lower  nature  is.  I  know  that  when  we 
would  do  good  evil  is  present  with  us.  I 
know^  the  warfare  that  goes  on  in  the  secret 
places  of  the  soul,  know  that  in  this  battle 
we  need  a  reserve — some  force  beyond  our 
own — to  give  us  the  victory.  I  know,  more- 
over, that  there  are  dark  days,  bitter 
experiences,       disappointments,      discourage- 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN     127 

ments,  sorrows,  bereavements,  rough  valley 
roads  where  the  shadows  hang  heavy,  and 
our  own  strength  is  a  prop  that  fails,  a 
resource  too  weak  and  small  to  meet  the 
sore  emergency.  Oh,  then  we  want  some 
voice  to  speak  in  the  darkness,  some  tender, 
loving  guide  to  take  us  by  the  hand,  to  lead 
us  out  of  the  valley  to  the  hills  where  the 
sun  is  shining. 

Ideals  are  usually  far  away,  radiant,  and 
distant  like  the  stars,  good  to  steer  by  and 
give  us  our  course  across  the  sea,  but  Christ 
comes  to  walk  by  our  side  and  to  aid  our 
slipping,  stumbling  feet  as  we  climb.  Who 
else  in  all  histoiy  can  do  that  for  you?  I 
think  sometimes  if  I  could  have  lived  with 
Paul  and  had  him  talk  to  me  as  he  did  to 
Timothy  and  Titus  ;  I  think  if  I  could  have 
had  that  splendid  hero  of  the  Cross  for  a 
companion,  I  might  have  grown  strong  and 
fearless  and  intrepid  too.  I  think  if  I  could 
have  communed  with  the  saintly  Baxter, 
or  the  heavenly-minded  Rutherford,  or  had 
fellowship  with  the  sweet  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi,  who  used  to  call  the  trees  and  the 
flowers  and  the  animals  his  sisters  and 
brothers,  I  might  have  caught  their  spirit 
and  become  sweet  and  gentle  like  them.  But 
they   are    gone.     The    past   has   wrapped    its 


128      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

mists  about  them.  They  walk  the  earth  no 
more,  but  Christ  Kves.  Christ  the  hero  of 
heroes,  Christ  the  saintKest,  heavenhest, 
gentlest  spirit,  is  here  to  make  His  strength 
our  strength,  His  life  our  life.  His  destiny 
our  destiny.  Now  I  say  you  need  this  Christ, 
you  know  you  need  Him  here  in  the  struggle 
and  the  battle,  and  this  is  reason  enough 
why  you  should  become  a  Christian. 

3.  But  there  is  another  reason.  We  shall 
not  be  here  long.  The  years  hasten.  The 
curtain  will  soon  be  rung  down.  This  drama, 
in  which  we  are  all  actors,  will  shift  to 
another  stage.  I  do  not  think  it  is  fanaticism, 
or  foolishness,  or  superstition  to  say  that 
nothing  w^ill  so  surely  guarantee  our  future, 
nothing  will  make  it  so  safe  for  us  to  pass 
from  this  stage  to  that  ,as  to  become 
Christians.  Recall  the  words  of  the  aged 
John,  the  disciple  who  leaned  on  Jesus' 
breast:  "Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons 
of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall 
see  Him  as  He  is."  "  Like  Him " — that  is 
the  destiny  of  the  believer  in  Jesus,  and 
isn't  that  a  good  reason  for  becoming  a 
Christian  ? 

"  It  doth   not  yet    appear   what   we    shall 


ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN      129 

be."  Wait  till  the  bud  unfolds.  Wait  till 
the  timbers  upon  which  God  is  working  are 
put  together.  In  the  city  of  Honolulu, 
away  yonder  in  the  heart  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  I  saw  a  house  every  board  and  post 
of  which  had  been  framed  in  New  England, 
and  I  was  told  that  that  was  the  history 
of  many  another  house  in  those  islands.  In 
the  early  years  of  missionary  enterprise 
there  the  material  was  prepared  in  New 
England,  sawed,  fitted,  mortised,  stowed  in 
the  holds  of  vessels  and  shipped  around  Cape 
Horn  to  be  put  up  in  that  remote  region. 
I  can  imagine  a  man  going  down  into  one 
of  the  ships  and  seeing  the  timbers,  all  framed 
and  piled  away  there,  mixed  together  in 
careless  confusion,  he  says,  "  It  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  they  shall  be."  But  he 
arrives  in  Honolulu,  he  sees  those  timbers 
taken  out  of  the  ship,  built  into  cosy  houses, 
tenanted  by  happy  families,  with  flowers  and 
pretty  yards  around,  and  then  everything 
is  made   clear. 

When  we  become  Christians  we  enter 
God's  carpenter  shop.  He  saws  us  and  rips 
us  and  planes  us  and  frames  us  according 
to  His  own  loving  plan.  He  uses  many  a 
rough  tool  upon  us.  Here  He  drives  in  a  nail, 
there  He  twists  in  a  screw,  yonder  He  fastens 

10 


130      ON  BECOMING  A  CHRISTIAN 

in  a  bolt.  In  the  hull  of  the  world's  ship 
we  are  carried,  around  Cape  Horn  where 
the  two  seas  meet,  and  one  of  these  days 
we  shall  land  on  the  Isles  of  the  Blessed, 
and  there  we  shall  be  set  up  into  a  house 
eternal  in  the  heavens. 

My  task  is  done.  Are  you  willing,  are 
you  ready,  to  become  a  Christian,  to  let 
God  work  upon  you  and  shape  you  for 
HimseK?  If  so,  why  not  settle  the  matter 
here  and  now  and  go  out  of  this  house 
to-day  irrevocably  and  for  ever  committed 
to  Jesus  Christ  ? 


THE  MISCHIEF  OF  DESTRUCTIVE 
THINKING 


THE  MISCHIEF  OF  DESTRUCTIVE 
THINKING 

"  And  behold  certain  of  the  scribes  said  within  them- 
selves, This  man  blasphemeth.  And  Jesus  knowing  their 
thoughts,  said,  Wherefore  think  ye  evil  in  your  hearts?  " — 
Matt.  ix.  3,  4. 

SAID  within  themselves."  If  all  the 
speeches  that  are  made  in  the  inner 
chambers  of  the  soul  became  audible !  If 
they  were  heard  in  home,  and  shop,  and 
church,  and  market-place  !  In  that  case  there 
would  be  sensations,  and  convulsions,  and 
upheavals  in  society  more  thrilling  and 
tragical  than  the  books  have  ever  recorded. 
You  know  how  we  talk  within  ourselves  and 
the  things  we  say  —  how  we  characterise 
and  judge  and  measure  the  people  about  us, 
marking  them  down  or  up,  according  to  our 
moods  and  feelings,  or  the  dominant  disposi- 
tion of  our  hearts.  It  is  wonderful  what  is 
going  on  within  ourselves,  and  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  silent  Star  Chamber  really  deter- 

133 


134  THE   MISCHIEF  OF 

mine  what  we  are.  We  fancy  sometimes  that 
no  reporter  gets  in  there,  that  all  this  Star 
Chamber  talk  is  a  profound  secret,  but  we 
are  very  much  mistaken.  There  is  One  who 
knows  our  thoughts  before  they  clothe  them- 
selves in  words  that  fall  from  the  lips.  If  we 
appreciated  this  fact  I  am  sure  it  would  make 
us  more  careful  as  to  what  we  say  within 
ourselves. 

The  theme  suggested  by  our  text  is :  "  The 
Mischief  of  Destructive  Thinking."  To  those 
who  are  attentive  I  am  sure  it  will  yield 
some  practical  lessons  for  this  hour.  Some 
time  ago  there  appeared  an  article  in  the 
Philadelphia  Post  entitled  "  A  Sensible  In- 
fidel." It  had  reference  to  a  Kansas  City 
man  who  had  proclaimed  himself  an  infidel 
for  twenty-five  years,  and  who  died  leaving 
a  curious  will.  All  his  fortune  of  $150,000, 
with  the  exception  of  $4,000,  was  given  to 
religious  and  charitable  organisations.  No 
explanation  was  made,  but  the  fact  itself  was 
eloquent. 

It  reminded  the  Philadelphia  Post  editor 
of  a  very  brilliant  infidel  who  once  wrote 
a  series  of  articles  setting  forth  his  views. 
"  One  morning,"  said  the  infidel,  "  I  had  a 
caller,  a  stranger.  He  came  to  my  house, 
introduced  himself,  and  with  touching  fervour 


DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING  135 

thanked  me  again  and  again  for  making 
him  see  the  light.  He  had  found  out  that 
I  had  written  the  articles.  I  was  greatly 
nonplussed,  but  replied  as  best  I  could 
that  I  was  glad  to  have  been  of  service  to 
him.  He  had  been  a  worker  in  his  Church, 
and  was,  as  I  found  afterwards,  a  man  of 
influence  and  usefulness  in  the  community. 
His  excessive  gratitude  was  really  embarrass- 
ing, and  it  reached  a  climax  when  he  said, 
with  increased  intensity,  '  Sir,  you  have  con- 
verted me.'  Now,  I  have  been  wondering  ever 
since  what  I  converted  him  to." 

When  he  began  to  think  about  his  own 
views  practically,  and  endeavoured  to  resolve 
them,  he  found  that  they  were  all  moonshine. 
There  was  no  substance,  no  crystallisation, 
nothing  to  get  hold  of.  So  when  the  Kansas 
City  infidel  with  his  fortune  began  to  look 
around,  as  he  stood  on  the  brink  of  eternity, 
he  found  that  infidelity  had  no  organisations 
through  which  money  could  be  used  for  the 
alleviation  of  suffering,  no  institutions  for 
the  uplifting  of  the  fallen  and  unfortunate, 
no  asylums,  no  hospitals  or  homes  of  relief — 
and  so,  like  a  sensible  man,  he  left  his  money 
to  the  Church,  which  has  the  machinery  and 
all  the  means  and  appliances  for  carrying  on 
philanthropic    work.     Now,    all    this    is    im- 


136  THE  MISCHIEF  OF 

mensely  significant,  and  the  bearing  of  it  will 
not  be  missed  by  the  thoughtful.  In  all  its 
books  and  publications  and  speeches  infidelity 
is  destructive  in  its  thinking ;  it  thinks  evil  of 
Christianity,  as  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  did 
of  Christ ;  it  thinks  of  it  only  to  assail  and 
attack  and  criticise,  and  hence  its  own  barren- 
ness. It  has  nothing  to  convert  men  to,  no 
vital,  positive,  living  thing  to  substitute  for 
that  which  it  would  take  away. 

But  aside  from  those  who  may  fairly  be 
classed  as  infidels,  there  are  multitudes  who 
deal  with  religion  through  their  prejudices. 
When  they  think  of  it,  they  think  of  its 
defects  and  not  of  its  merits,  of  its  faults 
and  not  of  its  virtues,  of  its  small  divisions 
and  not  of  its  mighty  unities.  If  there  have 
been  over-refining  and  misty  speculation  and 
a  good  deal  of  hair-splitting  in  matters  of 
theology,  they  dwell  upon  these,  and  magnify 
them  for  purposes  of  criticism,  rather  than 
upon  the  practical,  worldwide  beneficence 
of  religion.  They  see  the  specks  on  the 
window  and  overlook  the  sunshine  that 
streams  through  laden  with  warmth  and 
life  and  blessing.  They  see  the  flaws  in  the 
baking-pans,  and  the  cracks  in  the  stove,  and 
the  shortcomings  of  the  cook,  but  have  no 
eye  for  the  breiid  that  goes  out  to  feed  the 


DESTRUCTIVE   THINKING  137 

hungry  in  every  part  of  the  earth.  The  un- 
fairness, the  unwisdom  of  all  this  should  be 
evident  enough.  It  is  really  hard  to  be 
patient  with  men,  hard  to  believe  in  their 
sincerity,  when  they  reject  Christianity 
because  of  certain  little  peddling  questions 
and  difficulties  about  baptism,  or  election,  or 
the  devil.  There  is  the  great  river  of  the 
Cross,  cleansing  and  elevating  and  enriching 
humanity  wherever  its  waters  come.  On  it 
go  all  vessels  of  every  keel  cargoed  with  the 
merchandise  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Why 
don't  they  launch  their  boats  upon  it  and 
sail  away  on  voyages  of  service  and  not 
stay  for  ever  fault-finding  and  speck-seeing 
and  cavilling  upon  its  banks? 

The  institutions  of  Christianity  are  every- 
where ;  its  schools  and  colleges  and  missions 
and  churches  and  its  countless  agencies  for 
ministering  to  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
spiritual  uplifting  of  men  are  in  evidence 
toward  every  point  of  the  compass.  It  has 
a  thousand  hands  stretched  out  to  helj),  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  forces  at  work  to 
restrain  evil,  to  beat  back  iniquity,  to  over- 
come vice,  and  to  develop  the  conscience  of 
society  and  turn  its  thought  upward  to  God. 
No  one  denies  that,  as  it  has  passed  through 
the  alembic  of  human  thinking  and  through 


138  THE  MISCHIEF  OF 

the  channels  of   human  prejudice,  not  a  few 
imperfections  have  fastened  upon  it;  but  think 
of  it  constructively ;  think  of  its  achievements ; 
think  of  its  benefits  and  blessings  ;  of  its  hopes 
and  inspirations;  of  the  stimulus  it  gives  to 
education,   and  of  all  the  good  seed   that  it 
scatters  in  every  field  of  the  world — think  of 
all  this  and  of  an  immense  deal  more  which 
cannot  now  be  named,  and  you  will  be  con- 
vinced   that   Christianity    has    the   strongest 
possible   claims    upon    you   and   every   other 
reasonable  man.     Think  of  the  old  ship  con- 
structively ;    think    of    the    storms     it    has 
weathered,    of    the    rich    freightage    it    has 
brought  to   mankind,  of  the   safe  passage  it 
has  given  to  countless  millions   of  our  race, 
of   the   port  for   which  it   is   sailing,   of  the 
fact  that  its   Captain   has  been  around   the 
stormy  cape,  called  Death,  which  all  of  us  must 
double  some  day — and  if  you  think  earnestly 
enough,  and  seriously  enough,  and  profoundly 
enough,   you   will   say,    "  I  am  going  aboard. 
That  is  the  ship  for  me.     It  is  somewhat  old. 
There   is   an  absence  of  novelty   and   a  lack 
of  up-to-date  attractions  about  it.     I   see   no 
varnish,   no   glittering  veneer,  no  brand-new 
polish,  and  I  detect  no  odour  of  cologne  and 
lavender.     But  it  looks   strong   and   staunch 
and    seaworthy;    there    is   something    about 


DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING  139 

it  that  inspires  confidence  ;  and  then  its 
Captain  seems  so  thoughtful,  so  wise,  so 
masterful,  and  withal  so  kind  and  gentle, 
that  I  am  going  to  embark  for  the  long 
voyage  on  this  ship."  I  feel  very  sure  that 
something  like  this  would  be  the  result  of 
constructive  thinking  about  Christianity. 

The  mischief  of  thinking  destructively  is 
seen  also  in  relation  to  the  Bible.  There  are 
a  few  things  in  it  that  challenge  the  reason, 
certain  stories  and  miracles  and  astounding 
narratives  which  stagger  the  intelligence  and 
make  very  heavy  demands  upon  rational 
belief.  Take,  for  example,  the  story  of  the 
serpent  and  the  apple  in  Eden,  the  story  of 
the  plagues  in  Egypt,  the  story  of  Joshua 
commanding  the  sun  and  moon  to  stand  still 
and  they  obeyed,  the  story  of  Jonah  and  the 
whale,  and  the  story  of  the  Gadarene  swine. 
You  know  how  criticism  has  attacked  these 
stories,  and  how  ridicule  has  laughed  at  them, 
and  how  infidelity  has  made  them  the  butt  of 
many  a  shallow  and  irreverent  joke. 

Then  much  of  the  Bible  has  been  objected 
to  on  moral  grounds.  We  are  told  that  there 
are  portions  of  it  too  vile  to  be  read  in  com- 
pany, or  even  in  private ;  portions  of  it  to 
which  it  would  be  a  sin  to  call  the  attention  of 
pure  and  innocent  childhood.   I  remember  how 


140  THE   MISCHIEF   OF 

the  late  Colonel  Ingersoll  thundered  against 
some  passages  of  the  Old  Testament ;  declared 
that  the  book  in  which  they  were  found  was 
unfit  to  be  in  the  home.  He  characterised 
them  as  indecent  and  obscene  and  abomin- 
able. Others  have  taken  a  similar  view. 
Certain  chapters  in  Leviticus  they  have  de- 
scribed as  "  filthy  litanies,"  and  incidents  and 
scenes  in  the  Bible  have  been  referred  to  as 
too  hideous  and  loathsome  for  publication. 

Now,  these  things  are  in  the  book  ;  but  they 
do  not  by  any  means  justify  the  conclusions 
of  those  who  think  destructively.  If  a  man 
were  to  go  into  an  orchard  and  condemn  a 
tree  because  of  an  occasional  worm  or  cater- 
pillar's nest  in  its  branches,  he  would  be  con- 
sidered hasty  and  unreasonable.  Of  course 
the  worm  and  the  web  are  not  pleasant 
things  to  look  at ;  but  after  all,  if  the  tree  is 
to  be  judged  righteously  it  must  be  judged  by 
its  fruit.  If  that  is  good  and  wholesome,  the 
tree  must  be  good  also.  We  ask  nothing 
more  for  the  Bible.  Who  has  ever  yet  run 
upon  a  young  person,  or  an  old  person,  that 
was  corrupted  and  tainted  with  immorality 
by  reading  this  book?  We  know  that  we 
can  put  it  into  the  hands  of  our  children,  and 
tell  them  to  read  it  all,  and  read  it  again,  and 
re-read  it,  with   absolute   safety.     We   know 


DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING  141 

that  wherever  in  society  there  is  the  most 
Bible  study  and  most  absorption  of  the  Bible 
spirit,  there  is  the  most  purity,  the  most 
integrity,  the  most  stalwart  morality,  the 
most  hatred  of  iniquity. 

The  Bible  is  a  medicine  book.  It  comes 
with  healing  for  a  disease  that  is  in  the  very 
blood  of  the  soul.  And  as  a  medicine  book 
it  gives  us  a  faithful  and  awful  picture  of  the 
malady  that  afflicts  our  race.  Suppose  a 
great  and  learned  and  good  physician,  writ- 
ing a  book  on  cancer,  or  leprosy,  or  some 
other  deadly  disease,  for  the  guidance  of  men, 
were  to  omit  certain  repulsive  features  and 
refuse  to  blacken  his  pages  with  them ;  or 
suppose,  out  of  deference  to  the  suscepti- 
bilities of  certain  nice  people,  a  physician 
should  bar  from  his  library  all  medical  books 
unfit  to  be  read  in  the  family  circle  or  to  a 
Sunday-school  class,  what  would  we  say?  I 
am  sure  such  a  physician  as  either  of  these 
would  forfeit  all  claim  to  our  respect. 

Now,  the  Old  Testament  contains  the  path- 
ology and  diagnosis  of  sin ;  the  New  Testa- 
ment its  therapeutics.  The  one  points  out  the 
symptoms  and  manifestations  and  character- 
istics of  the  deadly  thing  ;  the  other  prescribes 
the  remedy.  Hence  there  is  much  in  the 
Old  Testament  that  is  necessarily  revolting. 


142  THE  MISCHIEF  OF 

because  sin  is  revolting.  The  pages  that 
describe  it  are  blistered  with  tears  and 
dripped  with  blood  and  splashed  with  mud, 
and  slimy  with  the  trail  of  the  serpent. 
They  so  portray  it  as  to  make  it  loath- 
some and  disgusting.  They  show  us  the 
worm  crawling  amid  the  branches  of  the  tree 
of  life,  and  its  web  decaying  and  killing  the 
leaves  and  the  blossoms.  They  hold  sin  up 
before  us  as  a  most  heinous  and  dreadful 
thing ;  and  for  this  reason  the  destructive 
thinkers,  the  inveterate  critics,  object.  If 
they  had  been  writing  a  Bible  they  would 
have  touched  sin  very  daintily,  if  at  all. 
They  would  have  wreathed  it  about  with 
flowers  to  hide  its  ugliness,  and  sprayed  a 
little  rose-water  upon  it  and  sweetened  it 
with  perfume  so  as  not  to  offend  fastidious 
readers.  But  in  so  doing  they  would  have 
discredited  their  own  inspiration  and  given 
us  a  book  with  no  claim  to  Divine  authority. 
Think  of  the  book  constructively.  Consider 
its  spirit,  its  manifest  purpose,  its  influence 
upon  literature  and  life,  upon  governments 
and  institutions ;  approach  it  without  preju- 
dice, with  an  honest,  receptive  mind,  and  it 
will  speak  to  you,  and  enlarge  you  and  lift 
you,  and  give  you  a  broader  outlook  than  all 
other  books  put  together.     Abraham  Lincoln, 


DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING  143 

with  his  vast  common  sense,  with  his  mar- 
vellous balance  of  judgment,  with  that  un- 
clouded candour  of  soul  that  threw  his  whole 
nature  open  to  truth,  writing  to  his  friend, 
Joshua  Speed,  said  :  "I  am  now  engaged  in 
reading  the  Bible.  Take  all  of  this  book 
you  can  on  reason.  Take  the  balance  on 
faith,  and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 
That  is  the  constructive  spirit,  and  I  most 
heartily  commend  it. 

Referring  to  art,  John  Ruskin  says :  "  No 
man  is  competent  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  a 
picture  if  he  looks  only  at  its  faults."  That 
is  true  in  all  directions  and  in  every  sphere  of 
life.  If  a  man's  purpose  is  simply  to  find 
flaws  in  the  Bible,  or  to  raise  questions  about 
its  difficulties,  he  is  utterly  disqualified  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  it.  He  is  one-sided  and 
altogether  incompetent  to  treat  the  book 
with  fairness.  Whatever  a  man  of  that  spirit 
may  say  or  write  about  it  is  entitled  to  no 
weight  with  thoughtful  people. 

But  now  consider  for  a  moment  the  mis- 
chief of  thinking  destructively  in  regard  to 
persons.  You  know  how  common  it  is  for 
people  to  make  the  shortcomings  and  incon- 
sistencies of  professing  Christians  an  excuse 
for  holding  aloof  from  the  Church  member- 
ship.   They  see  their  faults  and  their  crooked- 


144  THE  MISCHIEF  OF 

ness  too  much  in  evidence  ;  see  their  twists 
and  crooks  and  failures  and  weak  points  ;  see 
their  selfishness  and  their  meanness  and 
deflections  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  and 
they  call  them  sham  Christians,  pious  pre- 
tenders, counterfeit  followers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  so  they  refuse  to  march  with  that  kind 
of  company.  Now,  it  is  sadly  confessed  that 
there  is  some  spurious  coin  in  circulation, 
that  there  are  some  deceivers  and  hypocrites 
in  the  Church,  some  men  and  women  enrolled 
on  the  books  of  Zion  whose  lives  are  glaringly 
inconsistent. 

But  the  objectors  to  whom  I  refer  know 
very  well  that  they  are  not  asked  to  be  sham 
Christians.  They  know  very  well  that  they 
are  asked  to  deal  directly  with  Jesus  Christ, 
and  not  with  His  professed  disciples.  Be- 
sides, they  ought  to  see  that  they  would  be 
incompetent  to  criticise  the  inconsistencies 
of  Christians  if  they  did  not  know  what 
genuine  Christianity  is ;  and  if  they  know 
what  genuine  Christianity  is  how  great  must 
be  their  condemnation  if  they  put  it  from 
them !  It  is  difficult  to  adequately  express 
the  folly  of  rejecting  the  real  because  there 
are  sham  imitations.  The  truth  is,  it  is  never 
done  anywhere  else  but  in  relation  to  religion. 
Sensible   men   never  stay  out  of  the  medical 


DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING  145 

profession  because  there  are  quack  doctors, 
or  out  of  the  legal  profession  because  there 
are  pettifogging  lawyers,  or  out  of  mercantile 
life  because  there  are  shoddy  merchants,  or 
out  of  polities  because  there  are  boodling 
office-holders,  or  out  of  the  banking  business 
because  counterfeit  money  exists.  It  is 
only  when  we  come  to  Christianity  that 
men  too  often  take  leave  of  their  reason 
and  good  sense. 

But  let  us  be  fair  and  honest.  Christianity, 
as  we  see  it  exemplified  in  Church  members, 
is  not  all  pretence  and  veneer  and  make- 
believe.  Think  constructively,  look  at  the 
good  side,  and  you  will  see  that  our  con- 
gregations are  for  the  most  part  made  up 
of  very  excellent  people.  They  have  their 
faults,  even  the  best  of  them,  but  they  have 
also  their  virtues.  Think  of  them.  Think 
who  it  is  that  keep  up  our  Church  services, 
that  maintain  our  Sabbath  Schools,  that 
stand  behind  our  missions,  that  keep  alive 
the  conscience  of  society,  and  give  support 
to  every  good  work  for  the  betterment  of 
the  world.  Think  who  it  is  that  by  organised 
effort  and  by  personal  sacrifice  and  by  liberal 
contributions  of  money  strike  at  entrenched 
iniquities  and  endeavour  to  promote  the 
security  of  our  homes  and  our  business.     No 

11 


146  THE  MISCHIEF  OF 

doubt  they  are  not  as  earnest  as  they 
might  be ;  but  in  so  far  as  this  kind  of 
work  is  done  at  all  it  is  done  mostly  by 
those  who  are  called  Christians.  Think  of 
them  constructively,  think  of  the  good  they 
are  doing,  think  of  their  gold,  and  not 
of  their  dross,  and  you  will  see  that  our 
communities  owe  them  a  debt  that  never 
can  be  paid. 

The  lesson  is  a  good  one  for  us  all,  whether 
in  the  Church  or  out.  Nothing,  I  suppose, 
does  more  harm  in  the  great  seething,  social 
world  around  us  than  the  habit  of  thinking 
destructively.  Thoughts  are  things,  they 
are  forces ;  and  evil  thoughts  concerning 
our  neighbours  produce  no  end  of  mischief. 
Like  begets  like.  You  cannot  think  unkindly 
of  your  fellow-men  without  having  them 
think  unkindly  of  you.  The  spirit  you 
cherish  toward  them  passes  over  and  be- 
comes the  spirit  which  they  cherish  toward 
you. 

What  we  all  need  to  do  to  promote  our 
own  happiness  and  the  happiness  of  the 
world  is  to  school  ourselves  to  see  the  best 
in  people,  the  best  in  things,  the  best  in 
ourselves.  That  is  what  the  Saviour  did. 
He  called  the  poor  fishermen  of  Galilee  who 
scarcely  knew  what  education  and  refinement 


DESTRUCTIVE   THINKING  147 

and  elegance  were,  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
the  light  of  the  world.  If  He  had  seen  their 
worst  and  their  weakest ;  if  He  had  thought 
of  them  disparagingly  and  suspected  and 
distrusted  them ;  if  He  had  given  them  to 
understand  that  not  much  ^vas  to  be  expected 
from  such  simple  and  obscure  and  poorly 
furnished  men  as  they,  their  lives  would 
have  been  a  blank.  But  He  thought  the 
best  of  them,  appealed  to  the  best  in  them, 
made  them  feel  that  there  were  boundless 
possibilities  in  them,  and  they  went  forth 
to  meet  the  grandeur  of  His  challenge  and 
to  stand  out  in  the  blaze  of  fame  for  ever- 
more. There  are  good  points  in  the  worst 
of  men,  there  are  redeeming  features  in 
the  blackest  of  lives,  there  are  jewels  hidden 
away  in  the  very  vilest  of  human  clay ; 
and  if  we  did  but  think  of  these  and  give 
to  them  their  full  value,  what  a  different 
world  this  would  be !  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
would  come  in  very  truth. 

The  whole  philosophy  of  Christianity  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  God  thinks  of  us 
constructively.  He  sees  that  men  are  worth 
saving — even  the  worst  and  most  degraded 
of  men — sees  that  there  are  boundless  possi- 
bilities in  them  for  growth  and  development 
in  all  that   is  pure   and  holy.     He   sees   the 


148  DESTRUCTIVE  THINKING 

man  in  the  leper,  the  son  in  the  prodigal, 
the  woman  in  the  Magdalene,  and  that  is 
the  ideal  at  which  we  should  aim ;  to  think 
God's  thoughts  about  people,  to  manifest 
God's  sympathy,  to  come  into  harmony 
Avith  God's  purpose,  and  to  move  in  the 
groove  of  God's  will.  We  speak  sometimes 
of  talking  a  town  up,  of  talking  a  Church 
up,  or  an  institution  up,  or  a  man  up,  and  we 
all  know  how  much  there  is  in  it.  But  it  is 
better  to  begin  farther  back  and  think  people 
up,  think  of  them  constructively.  Think  of 
them  kindly  and  lovingly,  think  of  their  good 
qualities,  think  that  they,  too,  are  precious 
in  the  sight  of  God  ;  and  the  effect  of  it 
upon  society  would  be  most  wholesome 
and  elevating,  and  not  only  so,  but  it  would 
lift  and  transform  and  ennoble  us. 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

IsA.  vi.  1-8. 

IN  a  very  deep  and  true  sense  it  is  what  a 
man  sees  that  either  makes  or  unmakes 
him.  The  effect  of  vision  upon  character  and 
service  is  transforming.  It  elevates  or  de- 
bases, according  to  its  quality.  Whether  a 
man  grovels  or  soars,  whether  he  slimes  his 
way  with  the  worm  or  walks  upon  the  hill- 
tops, whether  he  remains  in  the  realm  of 
animalism  or  rises  into  the  spiritual  and  lives 
in  the  high  places  of  the  sons  of  God,  is  de- 
termined by  his  seeing.  The  men  who  shape 
history  and  direct  the  destinies  of  nations  are 
the  men  who  have  eyes. 

Moses  saw  the  invisible  and  endured, 
struggled,  conquered,  lifted  himself  and  his 
people  into  prominence  for  evermore.  Saul 
of  Tarsus,  on  the  Damascus  road,  saw  Jesus 
Christ,  and  out  of  that  vision  came  a  power 
of    manhood   that   has    thrown    itself    bene- 

151 


152    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

ficently  across  twenty  centuries.  Luther,  in 
his  monk's  cell,  had  a  vision  of  the  spiritual, 
and  out  of  it  came  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, with  all  its  forces  of  liberty  and  progress 
and  enterprise.  General  Booth's  tremendous 
success  with  the  Salvation  Army,  an  organi- 
sation which  in  less  than  a  generation  has 
belted  the  globe,  is  simply  the  realisation  of 
what  he  saw.  Because  David  Livingstone  had 
eyes  to  see,  Africa  to-day  is  zoned  with  light, 
and  that  matchless  career  of  his  stands  out 
before  the  world,  and  will  ever  stand,  as  an 
inspiration  to  the  noblest  efforts  for  human 
up-lifting.  Because  Jesus  saw  Satan  fall  like 
lightning  from  heaven.  He  was  thrilled  by  a 
sublime  optimism,  because  He  saw,  as  no  one 
else  has  ever  seen,  His  kingdom  is  coming,  and 
will  yet  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  eyes  in  the  mind, 
to  see  with  the  soul,  to  pierce  through  the 
crust  of  things,  and  get  down  to  inner  mean- 
ings. This  is  really  the  difference  between 
the  man  of  education  and  the  ignorant  boor, 
between  the  slave  of  superstition  and  the 
man  of  science,  between  the  filthy  fakir  and 
the  intelligent  worshipper  of  God.  It  is  a 
difference  of  seeing.  From  a  man  like  the 
late  W.   E.    Gladstone,    with   his  far-sighted 


A  VISION  AND  A   VOLUNTEER    153 

vision,  to  the  illiterate  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry 
of  the  under-world,  the  difference  is  almost 
measureless,  the  gulf  is  immense,  and  the 
thing  that  bridges  that  gulf  is  seeing. 

Who  are  the  prophets  that  come  with 
messages  for  their  age — the  Isaiahs,  the  Savo- 
narolas,  and  Wesleys,  and  Garrisons,  whose 
ideas  and  principles  change  the  courses  of 
history,  but  men  who  see  ?  Beholding  great 
sights,  they  perform  great  deeds.  Visions  of 
freedom,  of  chains  broken,  of  slaves  liberated, 
of  oppressions  taken  away,  have  been  the 
fountain-heads  of  all  the  religious  and  civil 
and  constitutional  liberty  in  the  world  at  this 
hour.  Because  some  men,  in  the  centuries 
gone,  had  eyes  to  see  we  have  the  flag  of  the 
free  and  the  home  of  the  brave.  Back  of  all 
emancipations  and  reforms,  back  of  all  patri- 
otisms and  philanthropies,  back  of  all  bene- 
factions and  benevolences,  yea,  back  of  all 
invention  and  discovery,  is  that  prolific  mother 
which  we  call  vision.  Men  first  see  something 
with  their  mind,  and  then  proceed  to  do  some- 
thing. If  Thomas  A.  Edison  is,  perhaps,  the 
greatest  inventor  of  the  age,  it  is  because  he 
is  the  greatest  seer.  What  are  ideas  but 
visions  of  the  soul,  something  seen  with  the 
inner  eye  ?  and  the  translation  of  those  ideas, 
or  visions,  into  facts  is  the  explanation  of  all 


154    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

progress  and  all  civilisation.  If  Christian 
men  and  women  anywhere  to-day  are  in- 
active, indifferent,  unconcerned,  it  is  chiefly 
because  they  do  not  see.  Now,  with  this 
introduction,  let  me  read  to  you  a  remarkable 
passage  from  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah. 

"  In  the  year  that  King  Uzziah  died,  I  saw 
also  the  Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and 
lifted  up,  and  His  train  filled  the  temple. 
Above  it  stood  the  seraphims ;  each  one  had 
six  wings ;  with  twain  he  covered  his  face, 
and  with  twain  he  covered  his  feet,  and  with 
twain  he  did  fly.  And  one  cried  unto  another 
and  said,  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  of 
hosts;  the  whole  earth  is  fuU  of  His  glory. 
And  the  posts  of  the  door  moved  at  the  voice 
of  him  that  cried,  and  the  house  was  filled 
with  smoke.  Then  said  I,  Woe  is  me,  for  I 
am  undone ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean 
lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
unclean  lips  ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the 
King,  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Then  flew  one  of 
the  seraphims  unto  me,  having  a  live  coal  in 
his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs 
from  off  the  altar;  and  he  laid  it  upon  my 
mouth,  and  said,  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy 
lips,  and  thine  iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy 
sin  i3urged.  Also  I  heard  the  voice  of  the 
Lord   saying,  Whom  shall    I  send,  and   who 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    155 

will  go  for  us  ?  Then  said  I,  Here  am  I,  send 
me."  The  first  thing  we  have  to  do  with,  you 
observe,  is — 

1.  A  vision  of  God.  Isaiah  at  this  time  was 
a  young  man,  not  yet,  I  imagine,  devoted  to 
anything  definite  in  life.  He  was  simply 
wavering  on  the  edge  of  things,  scarcely 
knowing  what  to  do  with  himself.  While  in 
this  condition  of  uncertainty  one  day  he  went 
into  the  temple,  and  there  beheld  a  sight  that 
lived  in  his  soul  for  ever.  Whether  objective 
or  subjective  does  not  matter,  so  far  as  the 
purpose  of  this  discussion  is  concerned.  The 
vision  stayed  with  him  as  a  constant  inspira- 
tion, and  made  him  a  fearless  and  mighty 
prophet  of  God.  He  says  :  "  I  saw  the  Lord, 
sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up," 
and  that  vision  was  the  secret  of  all  his 
courage  and  all  his  consecration  and  all  his 
sacred  eloquence. 

Read  the  lives  of  the  apostles  and  you  will 
find  that  it  was  their  God-consciousness,  their 
faculty  of  seeing  the  Divine,  of  living  as  in  the 
presence  of  the  Infinite  Majesty,  that  made 
them  so  irresistible.  They  saw  God ;  they 
realised  God.  They  hid  themselves  in  God,  as 
in  the  munitions  of  rocks.  In  God  they  lived 
and  moved  and  had  their  being.  This  was 
especially  true  of  Paul,  and  hence  the  marvel- 


156    A   VISION   AND   A  VOLUNTEER 

lous  dynamic  of  his  life.  Think  what  must 
have  been  the  power  of  a  man  who  could  not 
only  touch  and  shake  his  own  age  out  of 
its  superstition,  but  touch  with  constantly 
accumulating  force  all  subsequent  ages,  until 
at  this  hour  his  influence  is  felt  in  every  part 
of  the  globe.     Such  a  man  was  Paul. 

The  man  who  sees  God  in  all  events,  who 
makes  God  his  philosophy  of  history,  who 
backs  up,  so  to  speak,  against  the  Almighty, 
can  never  be  put  down.  It  was  this  that 
made  Huguenot  and  Puritan  and  Covenanter 
so  invincible.  The  main  factor  in  all  their 
calculations  was  God.  They  went  into  battle 
with  the  great  Name  upon  their  lips,  and 
pillowed  their  heads  upon  it  by  night.  In  all 
the  shock  and  upheaval  of  the  great  days 
in  which  they  lived,  they  were  steadfast  and 
immovable,  because,  with  their  inner  eyes, 
they  saw  the  Lord. 

Look  into  the  Gospels,  and  see  how  even 
Jesus  was  sustained  and  borne  up  by  His 
consciousness  of  God.  The  infinite  Father 
was  more  real  to  Him  than  the  Judean  hills 
and  rocks.  Whether  in  the  midst  of  the 
loneliness  of  the  mountain-side  or  in  the  midst 
of  the  curious  multitude.  He  was  always  ready 
to  have  a  word  with  His  Father.  Material 
boundaries   and  limitations  were  nothing  to 


A  VISION   AND   A   VOLUNTEER     157 

Him.  He  stepped  across  and  refreshed  His 
soul  by  communion  with  the  highest.  He 
moved  serenely  on,  He  endured,  He  suffered. 
He  walked  calmly  up  to  Calvary's  tragic  and 
awful  death,  because  He  saw  God.  What  was 
true  of  Him  and  of  the  apostles  and  prophets 
has  been  true  all  along  the  pathway  of 
history.  Wherever  you  find  a  great  awaken- 
ing of  the  Church,  wherever  you  run  upon  a 
mighty  revival  of  religion,  shaking  and  over- 
turning society,  there  you  never  fail  to  find 
some  fresh  vision  of  God.  If  ever  there  has 
been  a  noise  and  a  shaking  among  the  dry 
bones,  if  ever  they  have  come  together,  bone 
to  bone,  and  been  clothed  upon  with  flesh,  and 
made  to  live  and  stand  up,  an  exceeding  great 
army,  the  explanation  of  it  all  was  some  re- 
newed vision  of  God.  The  eyes  of  men  have 
been  opened  to  see,  and  out  of  their  seeing 
have  come  progress  and  victory  for  the 
Church. 

Need  I  remark  that  on  both  sides  of  the  sea 
and  throughout  Christendom  there  is  a  grow- 
ing conviction  that  this  is  the  one  great  need 
of  the  Church  to-day  ?  If  there  is  apathy,  if 
there  is  coldness,  if  there  is  worldliness,  if 
missions  languish,  if  converts  are  few,  if  in 
many  places  the  religion  of  the  Crucified  is 
barely  holding  its  own,  if  Christian  machinery 


158    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

multiplies  and  Christian  efficiency  seems  to 
diminish,  it  is  owing  to  a  lack  of  vision.  Our 
modern  Isaiahs,  our  standard-bearers,  and  our 
members  in  the  rank  and  file  do  not  see  the 
Lord.  Let  us  confess  it  frankly  and  with 
penitent  self-accusation.  Eyes  for  things  of 
the  dust,  eyes  for  material  gains  and  material 
pleasures,  eyes  for  the  attractions  of  Mam- 
mon, of  fashion,  of  amusement,  eyes  for  the 
smoking  "  lamps  that  skirt  the  sluggish  river 
of  time,"  but  no  eyes  for  the  great  Light,  no 
eyes  for  the  spiritual,  no  eyes  for  the  eternal, 
no  eyes  for  God  and  His  kingdom.  That,  pre- 
cisely, is  the  difficulty.  We  laugh  sometimes 
at  the  Christian  Scientists,  and  we  marvel 
at  their  enthusiasm.  It  seems  inexplicable. 
Various  solutions  are  suggested.  But  perhaps 
it  may  be  accounted  for  by  vision.  Perhaps 
their  earnestness  and  their  growth  and  their 
confidence  and  their  power  come  from  their 
seeing,  or  from  what  they  think  they  see. 
And  one  can  say  this  without  giving  the 
slightest  endorsement  to  this  greatest  of  all 
the  religious  fads  of  modern  times. 

At  any  rate,  the  people  who  see  great  sights 
are  the  people  who  do  great  deeds. 

There  is  that  young  man  in  Boston,  polished, 
cultured,  eloquent.  He  has  no  thought  of  a 
strenuous  and  heroic  life.     But  one  day  the 


A  VISION   AND  A   VOLUNTEER     159 

quiet  of  his  office  is  disturbed  by  a  mob  in  the 
street  maltreating  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  and 
dragging  him  off  toward  jail,  because  he 
dared  to  befriend  a  black  man.  It  set  the 
young  man's  blood  on  fire.  Before  his  mind 
passed  the  vision  of  the  slave,  shackled, 
scourged,  forsaken,  rising  into  liberty  and 
manhood.  He  looked,  and  was  transformed, 
and  said  to  the  voice  that  spoke  within  hiiu, 
"Here  am  I,  send  me."  From  that  hour  his 
matchless  gift  of  speech  was  consecrated  to 
the  cause  of  freedom  for  the  negro,  and  with 
what  power  he  spoke,  and  how  well  he  did  his 
work,  history  will  never  forget  to  tell. 

Every  reform,  every  invention,  every  splen- 
did business  enterprise,  every  upward  move- 
ment of  civilisation,  was  a  vision  before  it 
became  a  fact.  It  lived  in  the  mind  before  it 
was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  tangibly  before 
men.  It  is  not  otherwise  in  the  Church.  If 
we  are  at  ease  in  Zion,  if  we  are  satisfied  with 
small  things,  small  successes,  or  no  success,  it 
is  because  we  are  blind.  Never  shall  we  be- 
come doers  until  we  are  first  of  all  seers.  Only 
let  us  see  the  Lord,  and  the  hosts  of  Israel  will 
go  forward.  When  the  Julia  Ward  Howes  of 
liberty  and  of  the  Church  begin  to  sing — 

"  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory 
Of  the  coming  of  the  Lord," 


100     A   VISION   AND   A  VOLUNTEER 

the  armies  of  deliverance  will  soon  begin  to 
march ;  something  will  soon  be  done.  I  am 
glad  to  believe  that  this  hour  seems  to  be 
dawning  again.  There  are  arrows  of  light 
piercing  the  shadows  all  around  the  horizon. 
I  may  be  wrong  about  it,  but  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  leaven  of  vision  in  the  high  spiritual 
sense  is  yeasting  and  working  and  swelling  in 
all  the  great  Church  loaf  to-day.  Here  and 
there  prophets  are  rising  again  who  are  look- 
ing over  the  border  into  the  unseen,  drinking 
out  of  invisible  fountains,  and  are  pointing  to 
promised  lands  on  the  other  side  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Here  and  there  they  are  making  the 
people  tired  of  a  mere  yard-stick  and  market- 
place and  counting-room  kind  of  life,  and  are 
filling  them  with  longings  after  the  spiritual. 
These  signs  may  be  taken  as  the  first  drop- 
pings of  a  gracious  rain  which  God  is  soon  to 
send  upon  His  Church  ;  but  if  He  does,  it  will 
come  from  seeing  the  Lord. 

II.  But  next  in  importance  to  a  vision  of 
God  is  a  vision  of  ourselves.  So  far  as  we 
know,  Isaiah  was  a  young  man  of  excellent 
character.  No  doubt  he  had  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  The  proba- 
bilities are  that  his  life  was  above  reproach. 
But  when  he  got  a  glimpse  of  the  Infinite 
Holiness  he  cried  out,  "  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    161 

undone  ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips, 
and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean 
lips  :  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the 
Lord  of  hosts."  No  man  can  see  God  aright 
without  feeling  just  as  Isaiah  did.  When 
that  vision  rises  up  before  him,  all  his  pride, 
all  his  self-sufficiency,  all  the  small  moralities 
on  which  he  is  building  will  seem  to  him 
like  blight  and  mildew  on  the  leaves  and 
flowers.  Over  against  the  Divine  perfection 
his  own  righteousness  will  appear  as  filthy 
rags. 

One  of  the  great  mistakes  we  are  constantly 
tempted  to  make  in  forming  an  estimate  of 
our  character  and  the  quality  of  our  manhood 
and  womanhood,  is  that  we  insist  upon  com- 
paring ourselves  with  ourselves. 

We  set  man  over  against  man  and  class 
against  class.  Alongside  of  the  debauchery  of 
many  we  are  decent  indeed.  Alongside  of  the 
vile  we  are  virtuous.  Alongside  of  the  grasp- 
ing we  are  generous.  Alongside  of  the  loath- 
some we  are  attractive.  And  so  society  is 
conveniently  divided  up  into  what  we  call 
good  and  bad,  pure  and  impure,  conscientious 
and  criminal.  Godlike  and  devil-like.  The 
tendency  of  it  is  to  make  those  who  walk  on 
the  uplands  of  respectability  conceited  and 
self-complacent.     There  is,  to  be  sure,  a  vast 

12 


162    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

difference  between  the  honest  and  the  dis- 
honest, between  the  morally  high  and  the 
morally  low — a  difference  as  great  as  that 
between  the  clear  mountain  stream  and  the 
stagnant,  festering  pond — but  at  the  same 
time  it  is  nothing  at  all  in  comparison  with 
the  difference  between  the  holiest  man  on 
earth  and  the  holiness  of  God. 

If  you  want  to  know  whether  your  boy  can 
play  the  violin,  compare  him,  not  with  the 
common  fiddler  of  the  street,  but  with  Paga- 
nini.  If  you  want  to  know  the  quality  of  a 
piece  of  music,  do  not  compare  it  with  the 
jingle  tunes  of  some  in  our  Sunday-school 
books,  or  the  rag-time  of  the  low  dance- 
house,  but  with  the  sublime  symphonies  of 
Beethoven.  If  you  want  to  know  whether 
your  daughter  can  paint,  bring  the  best  pro- 
duction of  her  brush  and  set  it  down  beside 
the  "  Last  Judgment "  of  Michael  Angelo. 
The  alderman  in  the  city  council  may  talk 
well,  even  eloquently,  if  you  compare  him 
with  the  ignorant  hack-driver,  or  crossing- 
sweeper,  or  hod-carrier ;  but  bring  in  a 
Demosthenes,  or  a  Pitt,  or  a  Webster,  or  a 
John  Bright,  and  he  is  worse  than  a 
stammerer.  The  cabin  of  the  poor  labourer 
is  a  palace  if  you  contrast  it  with  the  Indian's 
wigwam   of  our  Western    plains ;  but    how 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    163 

infinitely  mean    and    insignificant    it    seems 
alongside  of  the  Waldorf-Astoria ! 

Everything  depends  upon  the  standard  or 
type  or  model  from  which  we  take  our 
measurements.  We  who  sit  here  to-day  are 
splendid  people,  veritable  paragons  of  virtue 
and  goodness,  compared  with  some  other 
people  on  the  face  of  the  earth — the  cannibals 
of  Central  Africa,  for  example,  or  the  Patago- 
nians  of  South  America,  or  the  wretched 
dwarfs  whom  Stanley  found  on  the  Upper 
Congo,  or  the  miserable  slum  dwellers  of  our 
crowded  cities — splendid  people  ;  but  what  be- 
comes of  all  our  splendour  when  we  look  into 
the  face  of  God?  The  whitest  piece  of  linen 
looks  yellow  when  cast  out  upon  newly-fallen 
snow  ;  the  brightest  candle  that  ever  burned 
would  look  like  a  shadow  if  placed  near  the 
mighty  search-light  of  a  modern  battleship  ; 
that  search-light  itself  would  look  black  if 
held  up  in  front  of  the  noon-day  sun ;  and 
that  is  how  Isaiah  appeared  to  himself  when 
his  eyes  beheld  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
So  you  and  I  would  seem  to  ourselves  if  we 
did  but  seek  a  vision  of  God.  One  look  at  His 
inefi'able  purity  would  overwhelm  us  with  a 
sense  of  shame  and  cause  our  proud  heads  to 
fall  upon  our  sobbing  breasts.  All  that  is 
conventional  would  be   swept  away;  all   our 


164    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

pride  would  collapse  like  a  bubble  ;  out  of  the 
depths  the  heart  would  speak  and  say,  "Woe 
is  me  !  for  I  am  undone."  When  Job  saw  the 
Lord,  you  remember,  he  abhorred  himself, 
and  from  that  hour  his  captivity  was  turned. 
Seeing  God  we  see  ourselves  ;  and  the  whole 
history  of  Christian  progress  ^vill  bear  me  out 
when  I  say  that  until  men  get  this  double 
vision  they  never  amount  to  very  much  in 
Christian  life  and  service. 

I  trust  I  may  not  be  charged  with  making 
an  unkind  impeachment  if  I  suggest  that  the 
one  great  weakness  of  our  pulpits  to-day,  and 
the  one  great  weakness  of  our  Church  mem- 
bership everywhere,  is  a  sense  of  self- 
sufficiency,  a  self-complacent  feeling  of  worth 
and  importance,  an  over-weening  conscious- 
ness of  merit,  and  a  vanishing  sense  of  the 
heinousness  of  sin,  first  of  all  in  ourselves  and 
then  in  the  world  around  us.  The  only  thing 
that  can  bum  all  this  away  and  bring  back  apo- 
stolic earnestness  and  consecration  is  a  vision 
of  God.  Most  of  you,  I  presume,  have  read  the 
sweet  and  touching  story  which  Professor 
Austin  Phelps  tells  of  Dannecker,  the  German 
sculptor.  For  eight  weary  years  he  laboured 
upon  a  marble  statue  of  the  Christ.  When  he 
had  worked  upon  it  for  two  years  it  seemed 
to  him  that  the  statue  was  finished.     What 


A   VISION   AND   A   VOLUNTEER     165 

more  could  he  do  to  add  to  its  perfection  ? 
To  test  the  matter,  however,  one  day  he  called 
a  little  girl  into  his  studio,  and,  directing  her 
attention  to  the  statue,  said,  "Who  is  that?" 
She  replied  promptly,  "  A  great  man."  He 
turned  away  disheartened.  He  felt  that  he 
had  failed,  and  that  his  two  years  of  labour 
had  been  lost.  But  he  began  anew.  He  toiled 
on  for  six  years  more,  and  then,  inviting 
another  little  child  into  his  studio,  repeated 
the  inquiry,  "  Who  is  that  ?  "  This  time  he 
was  not  disappointed.  After  looking  in  silence 
awhile,  the  child's  curiosity  deepened  away 
into  awe  and  reverence,  and  bursting  into 
tears,  she  said  softly,  "  Suffer  little  children 
to  come  unto  Me."  It  was  enough.  The  un- 
tutored instinct  of  the  child  had  led  her  to  the 
right  conclusion  and  he  knew  that  his  work 
was  a  success. 

Dannecker  declared  afterwards  that  in  his 
solitary  vigils  he  had  seen  a  vision  of  Christ, 
and  had  but  transferred  to  the  marble  the 
image  which  the  Lord  had  shown  him.  Some 
time  later  Napoleon  Bonaparte  requested  him 
to  make  a  statue  of  Venus  for  the  gallery  of 
the  Louvre.  But  he  refused,  saying,  "  A  man 
who  has  seen  Christ  would  commit  sacrilege 
if  he  should  employ  his  art  in  the  carving  of  a 
pagan  goddess.     My  art  henceforth  is  a  conse- 


166    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

crated  thing."  Something  like  that,  I  am  sure, 
would  be  the  spirit  of  Christian  preachers  and 
Christian  people  if  they  saw  the  King,  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  To  devote  themselves  to  lower 
things  or  to  lower  themes ;  to  allow  them- 
selves to  become  absorbed  with  fashion  and 
display  and  worldly  pleasure  ;  to  give  them- 
selves up  to  these  pagan  goddesses,  after  such 
a  vision  as  that,  would  make  them  feel  that 
they  were  committing  sacrilege  indeed.  Oh, 
if  we  did  but  see  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
what  preaching  we  should  have,  and  what 
living  we  should  have  !  for  always  it  is  those 
who  see  great  sights  that  do  great  deeds  and 
develop  great  lives. 

One  time,  at  a  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly,  an  effort  was  made  to  raise  funds 
enough  to  send  a  young  Princeton  graduate 
to  India  as  a  missionary.  A  teacher  in  a 
home  mission  school  was  seen  by  her  hostess 
to  slip  a  gold  ring  from  her  finger  and  put  it 
on  the  collection  plate.  Asked  afterwards  by 
the  lady  whose  guest  she  was  why  she  did  it, 
she  replied,  "Because  I  had  no  money,  and 
because  I  knew  what  it  would  mean  if  the 
effort  to  send  this  missionary  failed."  Not 
long  before  she  had  been  told  that  she  would 
have  to  give  up  her  own  school  because  there 
were  no  funds  to  support  it.     But  she  would 


A  VISION   AND  A  VOLUNTEER    167 

not  give  it  up.  She  held  on  with  magnijficent 
heroism,  and  she  contributed  the  ring  with  all 
its  sacred  associations  to  help  another  do  what 
was  so  dear  to  her  own  heart. 

Next  morning  a  commissioner  brought  the 
ring  into  the  General  Assembly  and  told  the 
story  of  it.  It  was  worth  about  five  dollars. 
"  I  will  give  five  dollars  to  send  the  ring  back 
to  the  young  woman,"  said  a  minister.  "  I 
will  give  five  dollars,"  said  the  stated  clerk. 
A  newspaper  reporter  handed  up  five  dollars 
to  the  platform.  Pastors,  missionaries,  visi- 
tors, came  forward  eagerly  with  the  cash, 
each  one  eager  to  have  some  share  in  restor- 
ing the  ring.  In  less  than  ten  minutes  more 
than  $300  had  been  passed  up  to  the  desk.  It 
was  all  caused  by  the  vision  they  got  of  the 
self-sacrificing  love  that  flamed  in  the  heart 
of  that  little  woman,  making  her  glad  to  do 
something  for  her  dear  Master. 

Brethren,  if  we  did  but  see  Jesus  lifted  up 
upon  the  cross  ;  if  we  did  but  look  into  the 
face  of  the  Crucified ;  if  in  the  light  of  that 
face  our  eyes  were  opened  to  see  ourselves  as 
we  are,  opened  to  see  the  love  of  God  for  a 
lost  world,  and  that  world's  need  of  a  Saviour, 
what  men  and  women  we  would  be ;  how  our 
hearts  would  open,  and  our  lips  speak,  and 
our  benevolence  flow  out  like  a  river  !     All  we 


168    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

need  to  make  us  evangelists  and  soul-winners 
is  to  see.  If  we  could  be  struck  down  like 
Saul  of  Tarsus  on  the  Damascus  road  by  light 
flaming  from  the  person  of  Christ,  like  him 
we  would  rise  to  our  feet,  Divine  in  consecra- 
tion, irresistible  in  power,  and  leave  a  shining 
pathway  wherever  we  went  among  the  Gen- 
tiles. All  great  Christian  souls,  all  the  great 
leaders  in  Zion,  must  be  crushed  and  humi- 
liated by  an  excess  of  light  before  they  go 
forth  to  conquer.  Would  God  the  whole 
ministry  might  go  into  the  temple  and  see, 
or  up  the  Damascus  road !  For  illustration, 
let  us  turn  again  to  Isaiah.  After  getting  a 
vision  of  God  and  a  vision  of  himself, 
observe,   he — 

III.  Becomes  a  volunteer.  In  response  to 
the  voice  of  the  Lord,  which  said,  "  Whom 
shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for  us  ?  "  he  re- 
plied, "  Here  am  I,  send  me."  Nothing  could 
be  more  practical  than  that.  He  has  no 
thought  of  any  second  or  third  person 
answering  the  call.  The  vision  does  not 
evaporate  in  sighing,  or  dreaming,  or  in 
suggesting  what  this  or  that  man  should  do, 
but  immediately  crystallises  into  personal 
service.  When  a  man  in  a  tremendous  ex- 
perience like  this  reaches  the  point  where  he 
says,  "  Send  me,"  we  can  have  no  question  as 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    169 

to  his  earnestness.     He  means  it  through  and 
through. 

But  there  is  an  intermediate  step  here  which 
must  not  be  overlooked.  As  soon  as  Isaiah 
saw  himself  in  the  light  of  the  Infinite  Holiness 
and  cried,  "  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone  "  ;  as 
soon  as  a  genuine  penitence  seized  upon  his 
life  and  melted  him  into  humble,  heart-break- 
ing contrition,  one  of  the  seraphim  flew — 
mark  the  word,  it  is  wonderfully  sweet — 
FLEW,  so  swift  is  the  forgiving  love  of  God 
when  He  sees  a  man  broken  in  spirit  by  a 
sense  of  his  un worthiness — and  said,  "  Lo, 
thine  iniquity  is  taken  away  and  thy  sin 
purged."  That  step  was  absolutely  necessary 
before  he  could  become  an  evangel  to  his 
people.  An  unconverted  prophet  can  do 
nothing  but  magnify  his  own  incompetency. 
A  man  who  has  no  grip  upon  God  cannot  grip 
the  consciences  of  the  people  and  turn  their 
thought  upward.  Unconverted  Church  mem- 
bers can  bring  no  sheaves  into  God's  garner. 
How  shall  those  who  have  never  tasted  of  the 
water  of  life  themselves  bring  others  to  the 
fountain?  If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both 
will  fall  into  the  ditch.  By  multiplying  thou- 
sands evangelism  is  felt  to  be  the  great  need 
of  the  Church  to-day,  and  we  are  glad  of  it. 
No  sign  could  be  more  hopeful.     God  is  laying 


170    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

upon  those  who  preach  and  upon  those  who 
bear  His  name  the  burden  of  souls.  Let  us 
pray  that  the  burden  may  increase  until  the 
whole  Church  is  aroused  and  recruiting  for 
the  Lord  becomes  once  more  a  passion.  But 
the  first  condition  of  successful  evangelism  is 
personal  cleansing  and  purification.  Only  the 
truly  converted,  only  those  who  have  put 
away  sin  and  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and 
have  a  real  heart  experience  of  Jesus  Christ, 
can  be  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  bringing 
others  to  conversion. 

Shall  I  trouble  you  with  a  notable  instance 
in  proof  ?  For  seven  years  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Thomas  Chalmers  occupied  a  pulpit  and 
preached  with  splendid  eloquence  before  he 
had  an  experience  in  his  own  soul  of  the 
renewing  power  of  God.  His  ministry  was 
the  sensation  of  the  hour.  Great  crowds 
thronged  his  church,  and  hundreds  were 
turned  away  for  lack  of  room.  His  name  and 
fame  were  sounded  far  and  wide  throughout 
the  land,  but  there  were  no  permanent  results. 
The  intellect  and  taste  of  the  people  and  their 
love  of  oratory  were  delighted  and  gratified, 
but  their  consciences  were  unpricked.  The 
ploughshare  did  not  cut  down  into  the  deep 
places  of  their  moral  nature. 

He  has  left  on  record  the  sad  and  humihat- 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    171 

ing  testimony  that  his  preaching  during  those 
years  did  not  have  "  the  weight  of  a  feather 
on  the  morals  of  his  parishioners."  But  there 
came  a  day  when  he  was  laid  aside  by  illness. 
In  this  illness  he  saw  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
hosts.  In  that  vision  he  saw  himself,  and  his 
heart  was  broken  with  contrition.  The  formal 
gave  place  to  the  vital,  the  professional  to  the 
real,  and  the  whole  man  was  transformed. 
He  was  as  new  a  man  as  Isaiah  was  that  day 
when  he  came  out  of  the  temple.  His  health 
returned.  He  went  back  into  his  pulpit,  and 
all  Scotland  was  shaken.  From  that  day  on 
his  ministry  was  mighty  in  its  evangelism. 
The  lips,  eloquent  before,  were  touched  with 
the  fire  of  God,  and  that  fire  burned  its  way 
into  the  hearts  of  men  and  brought  them  to 
their  knees  in  repentance  and  to  Jesus  for 
salvation.  When  that  crisis  came  and  that 
sharp  angle  was  turned,  it  was  no  longer  a 
question  of  drawing  the  multitudes,  or  of 
winning  applause,  or  of  cutting  a  great  figure 
as  a  pulpit  orator.  The  one  thing  that 
absorbed  and  controlled  him  was  to  lead 
sinners  to  the  Cross  and  to  build  men  and 
women  up  in  Christ  Jesus. 

It  was  Isaiah's  genuine  conversion  that  led 
to  his  whole-hearted  consecration  and  caused 
him  to  say,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me."     He  has 


172    A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER 

no  terms  to  dictate,  no  suggestions  to  offer, 
no  programme  to  outline,  no  pulpit  to  choose. 
The  surrender  is  complete.  The  whole  citadel 
of  his  manhood,  outworks  and  all,  has  yielded 
to  his  Lord,  and  he  simply  says,  "  Send  me — 
send  me  anywhere,  send  me  into  any  field. 
Send  me  up  the  hill  or  down  into  the  valley. 
Send  me  into  the  slums  or  out  upon  the 
avenues.  Send  me  where  the  work  is  hard 
and  the  pay  small,  into  city  or  country,  into 
obscure  place  or  conspicuous,  to  my  own 
people,  or  to  foreign  people,  only  send  me. 
Do  not  let  me  run  without  tidings,  uncommis- 
sioned from  above,  unauthorised,  unanointed, 
but  send  me,  and  send  me  now,  that  I  may  go 
and  tell  the  people  of  the  love  of  God."  That 
was  the  spirit  of  the  young  man  Isaiah,  and 
no  wonder  he  towers  up  in  biblical  history  as 
the  great  evangelical  prophet. 

Oh,  if  it  were  my  spirit  and  your  spirit ! 
And  it  would  be  if  we  saw  the  King,  the  Lord 
of  hosts.  If  we  do  not  serve,  it  is  because  we 
do  not  see.  If  we  do  not  volunteer,  it  is 
because  we  have  no  vision.  If  we  have  no 
"  Here  am  I,  send  me,"  to  answer  to  the  Lord's 
call,  it  is  because  our  eyes  are  holden  by  the 
things  of  this  world.  If  we  are  not  active  and 
earnest ;  if  we  are  not  eager  to  tell  of  the  love 
of  God  and  send  out  this  blessed  evangel  of 


A  VISION  AND  A  VOLUNTEER    173 

the  Cross  through  the  homeland  and  through 
lands  beyond  the  sea,  it  is  because  we  have 
not  seen  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  allowed  Him 
to  be  hidden  behind  the  smoke  and  dust  and 
fog  of  the  world.  Brethren,  what  we  need 
to-day  to  quicken  us,  to  arouse  us,  to  kindle 
us  with  a  holy  zeal,  to  beget  within  us  a 
cheerful  readiness,  to  convert  us  from  our 
apathy  into  helpers  and  lifters  and  leaders 
and  followers,  is  to  see  God. 


THE    MAKING    OF    MAN 


THE    MAKING    OF    MAN 


"  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after 
pur  likeness." — Gbn.  i.  26. 


RIGHT  conceptions  of  men  are  scarcely- 
less  important  than  right  conceptions 
of  God.  If  we  think  of  ourselves  as  being 
only  higher  animals,  or  the  product  of  some 
mysterious  process  of  nature,  or  the  last  result 
of  evolution,  the  outcome  of  certain  primordial 
germs,  the  conception  will  inevitably  leave  its 
legitimate  marks  upon  us.  Let  a  man  take  a 
low  and  material  view  of  himself,  let  him 
trace  his  pedigree  to  a  material  origin,  and  let 
him  see  nothing  ahead  but  annihilation  or  a 
leap  into  the  dark — a  brute's  beginning  and  a 
brute's  ending — and  he  need  not  be  expected  to 
rise  very  high  in  moral  character  or  in  any- 
thing pure  and  lofty  and  heroic.  To  think 
meanly  and  unworthily  of  oneself  is  to  be 
essentially  mean,  and  of  the  earth  earthy. 
For  we  are  so  made  that  we  can  never  get 
away  from  the  influence  of  our  own  thinking. 

13  "7 


178  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

We  can  no  more  rise  above  the  plane  of  our 
highest  thought  than  the  bird  can  rise  above 
the  uphft  of  his  own  wings. 

I  am,  therefore,  to  speak  to  you  this  morn- 
ing upon  the  Bibhcal  Conception  of  Man.  It 
is  profoundly  significant  that  the  notions  of 
man  entertained  by  the  great  scientists  and 
philosophers  and  scholars  are  grand  and  lofty 
just  as  they  approach  the  estimate  of  man 
found  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  a  suggestion 
that  ought  to  have  some  weight  with  us ;  for 
it  shows  how  wonderfully  this  old  book  has 
anticipated  the  highest  thinking  of  the  ages. 
Let  the  ablest  university  president  in  the 
world  draw  a  full-length  portrait  of  a  man  ; 
let  him  clothe  him  with  the  noblest  attributes, 
and  endow  him  with  the  sublimest  qualities 
of  character — love,  truth,  justice,  purity, 
courage,  patience,  immortality — and  when  he 
has  done  his  best,  he  has  simply  approximated 
the  standard  of  the  Bible.  It  raises  this  ques- 
tion, which  I  merely  throw  out  and  leave  with 
you,  namely,  How  is  it  that  the  Bible,  as  a 
moral  and  spiritual  teacher,  is  always  ahead 
of  the  most  progressive  and  gifted  leaders  and 
thinkers  of  mankind?  Work  it  out  for 
yourselves. 

Our  text  is  not  only  remarkable  for  what  it 
contains,  but  for  the  way  in  which  it  is  intro- 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  179 

duced.  It  represents  a  solemn  consultation 
on  the  part  of  the  Godhead.  The  light,  the 
waters,  the  dry  land,  the  heavenly  bodies,  the 
vegetable  and  animal  worlds  have  heard  the 
omnific  voice  and  sprung  into  being.  All 
the  lower  orders  of  creation  have  been  made  ; 
and  now  there  is  a  pause.  Man  is  about  to 
be  created,  and  behold,  there  is  Divine  deliber- 
ation. Before  such  a  step  is  taken,  before 
such  a  creature  is  launched  into  existence,  the 
probable  issue  must  be  considered.  His 
relations  to  heaven  and  earth  must  be 
taken  into  account,  his  freedom  of  will,  his 
self-determination,  his  ability  to  defy  the 
Almighty,  and  rebel  against  his  Creator,  must 
be  pondered  upon.  It  is  a  most  solemn  event. 
For  in  man  the  universe  is  to  receive  its 
crown.  I  am  simply  reciting  the  impression 
which  the  creation  narrative  makes  upon  the 
careful  reader.  It  is  as  though  in  the  council 
chambers  of  eternity,  when  the  material 
creation  was  finished,  and  everything  pro- 
nounced good,  there  was  a  solemn  pause,  and 
then  God  Almighty,  speaking  on  behalf  of  the 
blessed  Trinity,  said,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness," 

I.  Thus,  according  to  the  Biblical  concep- 
tion, man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 

This,  of   course,  cannot   refer  to  his  body 


180  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

for  on  that  side  of  our  nature  we  must  be 
classed  with  the  animals.  The  whole  plan 
and  structure  of  our  physical  frame  we  hold 
in  common  with  the  brutes,  as  the  most  hasty 
glance  at  comparative  anatomy  will  suffice  to 
show.  There  is  not  a  bone  in  the  human 
body  that  is  not  also  in  the  body  of  every 
member  of  the  monkey  family.  The  con- 
stituent elements  of  the  human  body  are  in 
no  wise  different  from  those  which  make  up 
the  bodies  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  They 
came  from  the  dust,  and  to  the  dust  they  are 
destined  to  return.  The  Bible  teaching  is 
that  man's  physical  investure — this  house  of 
clay,  which  w^e  call  the  body — was  made  of 
pre-existing  material ;  and  there  is  nothing  in 
the  creation  story  of  the  Bible  that  militates 
against  the  vieAV  that  the  body  was  evolved. 
A  great  multitude  of  thoroughly  orthodox 
thinkers  and  leaders  believe  and  teach  that 
on  the  lower  side  of  our  nature  we  must  be 
put  in  the  same  category  with  the  animals, 
our  only  distinction  being  that  we  stand  at 
the  head.  If  I  understand  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander,  Dr.  Hodge,  and  Dr.  James  McCosh, 
this  was  their  view,  and  it  was  also  the  view  of 
Professor  Dana.  Our  bodies  are  just  as  depen- 
dent upon  the  world  below  as  our  spirits  are 
upon  the  world  above  us.     Every  day  we  feed 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  181 

and  nourish  our  physical  nature  upon  flesh  of 
birds,  and  flesh  of  beasts,  and  upon  vegetable 
food,  and  substances  that  are  wholly  material. 
Why,  then,  should  we  shrink  from  the  thought 
that  our  bodies  have  been  derived,  through 
processes  of  evolution,  from  creatures  far 
beneath  us.  I  see  nothing  degrading  in  that 
relationship.  The  only  thing  to  blush  for 
and  be  ashamed  of  is  sin. 

It  is  only  when  we  come  to  the  spirit  that 
we  take  issue  with  the  materialistic  evolu- 
tionist. God  made  man's  body  out  of  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  but  He  created  his  soul, 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life. 
The  word  for  "  breath  "  is  precisely  the  same 
word  which  is  elsewhere  translated  spirit, 
and  the  meaning  is  that  God  imparted  to 
man  His  own  spirit,  or  His  own  nature.  It  is 
this  that  lifts  him  into  pre-eminence  among 
the  creatures,  and  this  that  gives  him  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God,  this  that  makes 
him  man.  He  is  a  thinking,  reasoning,  moral 
being.  But  when  we  say  that  God  breathed 
into  man  his  own  spirit,  it  is  not  to  be  con- 
strued to  mean  that  the  human  spirit  is  a 
part  or  a  particle  of  the  Divine  spirit.  That 
is  not  only  metaphysically  absurd,  but  profane 
in  its  tendency.  It  is  an  idea  that  begets  in 
us  a  feeling  of  revulsion.     Extension  is  one 


182  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

of  the  qualities  of  matter;  matter  can  be 
enlarged  or  diminished ;  matter  is  composed 
of  elements  that  can  be  united  or  separated ; 
matter  can  be  divided  ;  but  spirit  is  indivi- 
sible ;  you  cannot  cut  it  up  into  pieces  ;  you 
cannot  make  a  spirit  larger  or  smaller ;  so 
that  it  will  not  do  to  say  that  God  gave  to 
man  a  part  of  His  own  spirit.  If  He  did, 
then  man  would  be  possessed  of  the  same  at- 
tributes— eternity,  omniscience,  omnipotence, 
absolute  perfection,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of 
the  list,  which,  of  course,  cannot  be  received 
for  a  moment.  The  parent  does  not  give  a 
part  of  his  soul  to  his  offspring.  He  gives 
tendencies,  and  inclinations,  and  suscep- 
tibilities. But  every  soul  is  one  and  indi- 
visible. For  every  new  body  that  is  made 
God  creates  a  new  soul.  Into  the  new  body 
He  breathes  His  own  spirit;  so  that  man  is 
like  God,  or  the  image  of  God  only  in  the 
moral  sense. 

Referring  to  the  words,  "Let  us  make  man 
in  our  image,  after  our  likeness,"  one  of  the 
keenest  and  most  powerful  thinkers  of  our 
time  says  that  it  is  blasphemy  if  it  is  not  true. 
Consider  how  such  a  statement  involves  the 
character  of  God.  Pick  out  some  great  and 
famous  architect,  and  then  go  down  into 
the   slums   of  the   city   and  point  to  certain 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  183 

unsightly  and  dilapidated  buildings,  and  say 
he  made  them,  and  it  certainly  would  not  be 
very  complimentary.  Ascribe  trashy  and 
worthless  literature  to  Emerson,  Carlyle,  or 
Macaulay,  and  you  insult  their  memories. 
Say  that  Beethoven,  or  Handel,  or  Mozart 
composed  music  of  the  jingle  sort,  and  you 
pour  contempt  ujDon  their  genius.  And  yet 
we  say,  God  made  man.  Go  down  into  the 
dives  and  dens  of  iniquity  and  look  at  him ; 
into  prisons,  into  jails,  into  garrets  and  cellars, 
into  reeking  sweat-shops,  and  behold  this 
wonderful  masterpiece  of  God.  There  he  is, 
low-browed  and  beastly ;  there  he  is,  drunken 
and  debauched ;  there  he  is,  sneaking  and 
cringing  like  a  criminal ;  there  he  is,  foolish 
and  false  and  filthy  ;  there  he  is,  plotting  the 
ruin  of  his  fellow,  wallowing  in  the  mire, 
standing  with  both  feet  in  hell ;  deformed  in 
mind,  deformed  in  body,  degraded,  corruption 
burning  and  festering  in  the  hot  currents  of 
his  blood,  disease  eating  away  his  life,  a  poor 
wasted,  worthless  wreck.  And  yet  we  say, 
"  This  is  the  image  of  God."  He  frets,  and  struts, 
and  fumes,  and  plays  the  fool ;  he  lies,  and 
masks,  and  babbles,  and  eats  swine's  food, 
and  we  say,  "  This  is  a  copy  of  Deity."  On  the 
brazen  brow  of  the  strumpet,  on  the  narrow 
forehead  of  the  pugilist,  on  the  leering  face  of 


184  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

the  idiot,  on  the  cruel  face  of  the  murderer, 
we  write — "  The  Image  of  God."  It  seems  like 
infinite  mockery.  Can  God  Almighty  do  no 
better  than  that  ?  Is  this  a  specimen  of  His 
architecture  ?  And  yet  here  is  the  text.  We 
are  solemnly  assured  that  God  made  man  in 
His  own  likeness.  Surely  infinite  wisdom 
never  made  such  a  lame  attempt  at  repro- 
duction. 

Or  look  at  man  when  he  is  at  his  best; 
erect,  broad-browed,  clear-eyed.  Look  at  him 
educated,  cultured,  and  refined  ;  writing  books, 
making  Senates  ring  with  his  eloquence, 
wresting  from  Nature  her  secrets,  unravelling 
the  mysteries  of  the  earth.  Look  at  him 
when  he  stands  highest,  and  how  weak,  and 
frail,  and  imperfect  he  is  after  all !  He  is 
afraid  of  the  night  air ;  he  coughs  when  the 
wind  smites  him.  He  smarts  under  criticism. 
He  yields  to  prejudice.  He  becomes  the  tool 
of  ambition,  the  slave  of  wealth  and  power. 
And  yet  we  say  proudly  of  this  man,  who  is 
so  dainty,  and  so  sensitive  to  praise  or  blame, 
and  so  easily  warped  and  swept  away  on  this 
current  or  that,  "  He  is  the  image  of  God !" 
Again,  I  say,  it  seems  like  mockery.* 

Now,  what  is  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  ? 
Simply  this — we  are  not  thinking  of  the 
*  See  Joseph  Parker,  D.D,,  on  Genesis,  p.  111. 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  185 

right  man  at  all.  We  must  strip  him  of  all 
sin.  We  must  eliminate  all  that  is  devilish. 
We  must  take  away  the  trail  of  the  serpent 
and  think  of  the  ideal  man.  Let  us  picture 
to  ourselves  what  man  may  become.  Let 
us  set  before  our  eyes  the  noblest  specimen 
of  our  race.  Let  us  think  of  the  "  man  within 
the  man,  the  possible  within  the  actual,"  and 
we  shall  get  a  glimpse  of  the  man  whom 
God  made.  We  shall  conclude  that  after 
all  he  is  not  unworthy  of  his  Divine  proto- 
type. Jesus,  the  Christ,  is  the  ideal  humanity, 
the  absolutely  perfect  model,  the  express 
image  and  likeness  of  God ;  and  to  see  the 
man  whom  God  made  in  His  own  image 
we  must  look  at  Him.  He  is  the  ultimate 
man,  the  complete,  the  finished  man,  and 
toward  him  all  the  centuries  are  moving. 
He  is  the  crown  and  culmination  of  all  dis- 
pensations, and  struggles,  and  revolutions. 
This  is  the  philosophy  of  history ;  this  is 
the  explanation  of  all  social  conflict  and 
upheaval — it  is  man  straining,  and  striving, 
and  climbing  up  to  his  Divine  ideal. 

II.  But  these  apparent  mockeries  of  our 
text  which  we  see  everywhere  around  us, 
these  human  wrecks  and  ruins  which  con- 
front us  at  every  turn  and  angle  of  life, 
these   striking  imperfections  which   manifest 


186  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

themselves  even  in  the  highest  manhood, 
remind  us  in  the  second  place  that  according 
to  the  Biblical  conception  man  is  a  sinner. 
The  Bible  never  stops  to  argue  the  question. 
The  sad  fact  is  so  evident,  so  glaring,  so 
universally  obstrusive  and  emergent  that  it  is 
everywhere  assumed  by  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
One  does  not  need  to  belabour  his  brain 
to  prove  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth 
and  travaileth  together  in  pain.  Some- 
thing is  sadly  wrong.  The  sighs,  and  the 
tears,  and  the  woes,  and  the  heart-aches, 
and  the  sorrows,  and  the  sufferings  which 
we  see,  and  feel,  and  hear ;  the  clash,  and 
friction,  and  conflict,  and  antagonism,  appa- 
rent everywhere  from  slum  to  avenue,  and 
all  over  the  world,  are  proof  enough  that 
man  is  a  sinner.  As  well  spend  time  under 
a  cloudless  noonday  trying  to  prove  that 
the  sun  shines  as  to  spend  time  trying  to 
prove  that  men  are  depraved.  No  matter 
what  the  theorist  says,  no  matter  what  the 
dreamer  affirms,  there  is  the  fact.  But  the 
fact  of  sin  is  to  be  accounted  for.  Hoav 
did  it  get  into  the  world  ?  Evolution  does 
not  explain  it ;  evolution,  from  base  to  pin- 
nacle, is  built  upon  pre-existing  material.  It 
can  only  unfold  that  which  has  been  infolded. 
If   the  chicken  is  not  potentially  in  the  egg, 


THE   MAKING  OF  MAN  187 

it  is  certain  that  no  process  of  incubation, 
long  or  short,  can  ever  hatch  it  out.  You 
cannot  get  more  water  out  of  a  vessel  than 
was  originally  put  in.  Evolution  and  in- 
volution must  be  equal.  If,  then,  sin  did 
not  inhere  in  the  original  matter,  if  there 
was  no  sin  in  the  far-away  lower  orders 
of  creation,  it  nevertheless  somehow  got 
in ;  for  sin  is  here.  If  sin  is  the  outcome 
of  evolution,  just  as  everything  else  is  said 
to  be,  then  it  must  be  a  part  of  a  great 
necessity,  and  therefore  why  punish  it  ?  Why 
hold  men  responsible  for  that  which  they 
cannot  help  ?  Why  condemn  and  load  with 
penalty  a  thing  that  can  no  more  be  avoided 
than  the  revolutions  of  the  earth  ? 

However  much  men  may  theorise  about 
sin  in  their  class-rooms,  and  lecture-halls, 
and  on  the  printed  page,  their  theories  break 
down  utterly  in  the  prosy  realm  of  practice. 
No  criminal,  no  law-breaker  is  ever  excused 
if  he  stands  before  the  judge  and  says,  "  I 
could  not  help  it ;  I  am  only  the  agent  of 
necessity."  Man's  acts  are  his  own.  Every- 
where he  is  dealt  with  as  a  free  moral  agent. 
Grant,  if  you  please,  that  he  started  as  a 
little  speck  of  protoplasm,  that  he  came 
up,  step  by  step,  from  the  lowest  forms  of 
life ;    that  he   ascended   through   millions   of 


188  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

ages  from  beasthood  to  manhood.  Take  that 
genealogy,  if  you  prefer  it,  to  the  genealogy 
of  Saint  Luke — but  how  does  that  account 
for  sin  ?  Men  do  wrong ;  they  bite  and 
devour ;  they  cheat  and  kill ;  they  slander 
and  slay;  and  the  question  is.  Where  and 
how  did  sin  begin  ?  It  is  here  ;  and  it  must 
have  had  a  starting-point.  A  germ  cannot 
sin  ;  protoplasm  cannot  sin  ;  the  beasts  cannot 
sin ;  evolving  material  life  cannot  sin.  Sin 
belongs  to  man ;  and  again  it  raises  the 
question.  Where  did  sin  come  from?  It  is 
a  mystery  that  has  never  been  fathomed. 
Why  did  the  pure,  and  holy,  and  infinitely 
good  God  ever  allow  sin  to  exist  ?  If  nothing 
exists  outside  of  his  own  being,  which  he 
did  not  create,  how  did  sin  ever  come  to 
be  ?  The  well  is  deep,  and  I  have  no  plummet 
which  can  reach  its  bottom.  Men  may  laugh 
at  the  Eden  story  and  make  merry  over 
the  Biblical  explanation  of  sin ;  but  until 
they  can  furnish  a  better  one  their  sneers 
only  reveal  their  shallowness.  It  has  been 
illustrated  in  this  way  by  one  of  our  greatest 
thinkers,  and  I  give  you  the  illustration 
for  what  it  is  worth.  You  have  a  violin 
that  is  in  perfect  tune.  You  hang  it  upon 
the  wall,  and  go  away  for  a  season.  After 
some  months  you  return,  and  you   find  that 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  189 

it  is  all  out  of  tune.  You  do  not  accuse 
any  one  of  having  done  it.  You  simply  say 
it  got  out  of  tune.  This,  he  supposes,  is 
the  way  in  which  sin  began.  Through  in- 
attention, through  defect  in  obedience,  defect 
in  faith,  defect  in  love.  It  was  an  omission ; 
and  through  the  slacking  of  the  strings, 
through  an  imperceptible  dropping  down 
from  the  key,  through  this  small  rift  in 
the  lute,  a  little  discord  began ;  and  then 
a  little  more,  and  a  little  more,  until  out 
of  this  came  all  the  world's  woe,  and  the 
sad  separation  between  God  and  man — a 
separation  which  can  be  bridged  over  only 
by  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  But,  after  all 
our  explanations  and  illustrations,  we  come 
back  to  this,  that  man  is  a  sinner,  and  that 
his  sin  turns  upon  the  freedom  of  his  own 
will.  It  is  this  that  gives  him  his  grandeur, 
this  that  makes  it  such  an  awful  thing  to 
live.  The  very  fact  that  he  can  be  a  sinner 
proclaims  his  majesty  and  the  infinite  possi- 
bilities of  his  being.  He  can  make  his  bed 
in  hell ;  but  he  can  also  point  to  a  glittering 
crown,  and  say,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  that 
diadem  shall  be  mine."  He  can  wallow  in 
the  mire  ;  he  can  gloat  over  iniquity ;  he 
can  revel  in  moral  slime  and  filth ;  or  he 
can  climb  the  hills  of  God,  and  walk  the 
golden  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 


190  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

III.  And  this  leads  me  to  say  that,  according 
to  the  Biblical  conception,  man  is  immortal. 
The  animals   die ;    the    stars    grow   old    and 
disappear  ;  the  worlds  and  constellations  that 
fill  the    azure  spaces  are  creatures  of  time ; 
their   existence  is  measured   by    years.     But 
man  is  immortal.     He  is  not  a  child  of  time, 
but  a  child  of  eternity.     He  has  entered  upon 
a  journey  that  will  stretch  on,  and  on,  and 
on  for  ever.     It   is  a  thought  before  whose 
significance   everything  else  pales  and    fades 
away.   His  houses  go,  his  lands  go,  his  moneys 
go,     his     offices    and    positions    go,    but    he 
himself    remains.     There    is    no    back    door, 
no   suicide's   portal,   no   hole   through   which 
he   can  steal  out    of  being.     He   must  exist, 
and   exist,  and   exist,  whether    he   wants   to 
or  not.     How  supreme,  how  measureless  the 
importance,  therefore,  of  heading  in  the  right 
direction  !    for  the  bad   man   must  go  on  as 
well   as   the  good  man  ;    but  in   the   nature 
of  things  they  must  journey  back   to   back. 
We   have   spoken  of   evolution,  and   glanced 
back   over    the    road    along    which    man    is 
said  to  have  come  up  to  his  present  condition. 
That  is  not  to  be  despised  or  to  be  treated 
lightly.     Let  us  honour  the  men  who  interest 
themselves    in     the    origin    of     species    and 
the  beginnings  of  things.     Genesis  is  no  more 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  191 

to  be  skipped  in  nature  than  in  the  Bible. 
It  broadens  our  horizon,  it  enlarges  our 
outlook.  It  adds  immensely  to  our  stock 
of  knowledge  to  be  informed  as  to  sources 
and  fountain-heads.  But,  dear  friends,  there 
is  something  infinitely  more  weighty.  The 
best  way  to  get  into  port  is  not  to  keep 
the  eyes  for  ever  astern.  This  great  world- 
ship  in  which  we  are  sailing  is  not  moving 
backward,  but  forward.  Destiny,  destiny, 
therefore,  is  the  thing  to  be  concerned  about. 
I  am  moving  over  the  sea ;  the  swift  years 
are  dropping  behind ;  the  shoreline  of  the 
past  sinks  away  into  the  haze ;  and  am  I  a 
fanatic,  am  I  unreasonable  if  I  give  a  great 
deal  of  consideration  to  the  landing?  What 
does  it  matter  what  I  was  or  where  I  was 
a  million  of  ages  ago  ?  But  it  does  concern 
me  profoundly  to  know  where  and  what  I 
shall  be  in  the  ages  to  come.  It  is  all  right 
enough  to  be  curious  about  my  pedigree. 
If  my  progenitors  were  animals,  it  is  well 
enough  to  know  it.  It  does  not  horrify  me 
in  the  least,  if  only  the  line  is  long  enough. 
But  suppose  I  know  all  about  it,  suppose  I 
am  perfectly  at  home  in  the  ancient  history 
of  my  race,  suppose  I  could  talk  like  a 
professor  about  the  changes  of  lower  orders 
to  higher  orders,  and  were    a    master   in  all 


192  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

studies  pertaining  to  the  genesis  of  life  and 
its  development — how  much  would  it  all 
amount  to  practically  and  as  affecting  my 
character  and  preparedness  for  something 
beyond  ?  I  cannot  anchor  myself  to  the  was, 
if  I  would.  The  anchor  will  not  hold. 
Every  breeze  of  flying  time,  every  pulse- 
beat,  every  tick  of  the  clock  is  bearing  me  on 
into  the  to  be.  It  is  impossible  to  live  in 
past  moods  and  tenses.  I  must  go  on  into 
the  future,  and  I  want  to  know  where  I  am 
going.  If  I  look  ahead ;  if  I  peer  into  the 
beyond ;  if  I  try  to  see  some  headland 
breaking  through  the  mist ;  if  I  take  the 
great  Pilot  aboard — Him  who  trod  the  waves 
of  Galilee — do  not  chide  me,  do  not  call  me 
weak  and  foolish.  The  preface  to  the  cradle 
may  be  all  right  as  a  study ;  and  that  study 
scientific  men  may  give  their  days  and  their 
nights  to.  But  I  am  old-fashioned  enough 
to  think  that  the  appendix  to  the  grave,  the 
sequel  to  the  sepulchre,  is  infinitely  more 
important.  Let  others  bore,  and  drill,  and 
mine  in  the  rear,  if  they  will ;  let  them  get 
water  out  of  rocks  Silurian,  and  rocks  De- 
vonian, if  they  choose ;  but  as  for  me,  I  want 
water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation  spring- 
ing up  into  eternal  life.  I  do  not  despise 
the  nest  in  which  I  was    hatched  ages  upon 


THE  MAKING  OF  MAN  193 

ages  ago  ;  but  I  do  think  a  thousand  times 
more  of  the  wings  which  are  bearing  me  to 
the  cloudless  and  nightless  land  of  immor- 
tality. I  know  I  shall  not  end  up  with  the 
animals,  however  far  I  may  have  come  with 
them.  I  find  myself  under  some  strange 
attraction ;  I  find  myself  wooed  upward  by 
some  mighty  power ;  I  find  myself  as  the 
shadows  lengthen  growing  hungrier  and 
hungrier  for  something  earth  and  time  can- 
not give ;  I  know  it  is  the  immortal  in  me 
reaching  out — the  caged  bird  beating  against 
the  prison  bars.  I  want  room,  I  want  field ; 
the  world  is  too  small ;  immortality  alone 
can  satisfy  me. 

Oh  the  great,  the  stupendous  word,  full  of 
music,  full  of  warning — I  tell  it  out  with 
gladness,  and  yet  with  fear  and  trembling — 
that  for  ever  and  for  ever  man  shall  live  ! 
But  where  ?  Where  ?  That  question  the 
Bible  answers  in  terms  which  cannot  be 
misunderstood  ;  and  the  Bible  answer  is  my 
answer.  Reason's  lamp  flings  too  short  a 
beam  here  ;  while  it  illumines  a  little  space 
about  the  ship  it  leaves  the  shore  we  are 
tending  to  and  the  land  whither  we  are 
going  wrapped  in  gloom.  It  tells  us,  indeed, 
that  we  are  immortal ;  but  it  does  not  and 
cannot   tell   us   what  the   conditions    of    life 

U 


194  THE  MAKING  OF  MAN 

everlasting  are,  or  upon  what  they  hinge. 
For  that  we  must  turn  to  the  Bible  ;  and, 
turning  to  the  Bible,  it  tells  us  that  man, 
made  in  the  image  of  God — man  the  sinner, 
man  the  fallen,  man  the  deathless  one — needs 
salvation.  It  tells  us  that  that  salvation, 
through  the  infinite  grace  of  God,  was  pro- 
vided by  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  It  tells  us  that  the  Cross  is  our  only 
hope  ;  and  to  the  shelter  of  that  Cross,  to  the 
refuge  of  the  riven  rock,  to  the  protection  of 
the  heart  that  broke  on  Calvary,  I  invite 
every  one  of  you  this  morning. 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

"  Oh,  how  gi-eat  is  Thy  goodness,  which  Thou  hast  laid  up 
for  them  that  fear  Thee ;  which  Thou  hast  wrought  for  them 
that  trust  in  Thee  before  the  sons  of  men !  " — Psa.  xxxi.  19. 

HERE  we  have  something  worth  thinking 
about,  and  which,  if  we  consider  it 
carefully,  will  surely  stir  our  hearts  with 
gratitude  and  fill  our  mouths  with  song. 
The  laid-up  goodness  of  God — all  nature  and 
all  revelation  and  all  providence  are  full  of 
it.  Much  of  it  we  have  seen  already,  but 
the  best  is  always  to  come.  No  amount  of 
drawing  upon  God's  bank  can  diminish  the 
deposits  which  infinite  love  has  made  for  our 
happiness.  We  see  a  few  flowers,  but  what 
are  they  to  the  gardens  that  bloom  and 
breathe  their  sweetness  under  every  sky? 
We  see  a  few  streams,  but  what  are  they  to 
the  oceans  that  beat  on  every  shore  ?  A  few 
stars,  but  what  are  they  to  the  countless 
worlds  that  lie  beyond  our  field  of  vision  ? 

As  the  leaves  which  I  look  upon  out  of  my 
window  to  all  the  waving  forests  of   earth  ; 

197 


198   THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

as  the  lights  of  the  city  to  the  lights  of  the 
firmament ;  as  the  bread  in  the  poor  man's 
cupboard  to  all  the  overflowing  granaries  of 
earth,  so  is  the  manifest  goodness  of  God  to 
that  which  He  has  laid  up  in  store.  The  corn 
in  the  sacks  of  the  sons  of  Jacob  was  some- 
thing, but  compared  with  the  corn  in  Egypt 
it  was  nothing  at  all.  The  Queen  of  Sheba 
thought  she  had  seen  some  wealth  and  some 
magnificence,  but  when  she  beheld  the 
treasures  of  Solomon  her  heart  fainted 
within  her ;  and  behold,  a  greater  than 
Solomon  is  here.  His  riches  are  unsearch- 
able, and  His  wisdom  past  finding  out. 

God  is  for  ever  surprising  us  with  His 
reserves  of  goodness.  Nothing  has  been  more 
remarkable  in  all  the  unfol  dings  of  history, 
and  in  all  the  development  of  civilisation,  and 
nothing  will  be  more  wonderful  in  all  the  un- 
foldings  of  the  future.  Think  for  a  moment 
of  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God, 

I.  In  nature.  The  coal  that  warms  our 
homes  and  drives  our  engines  and  factories 
was  stored  away  in  the  earth  ages  upon  ages 
ago.  God  laid  it  up  for  the  uses  of  His  children 
thousands  of  years  before  they  appeared  upon 
the  earth.  So  of  the  iron  and  copper  and  lead, 
so  of  the  precious  metals.  They  were  all  here 
when  man  came ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD   199 

say  that  they  were  prepared  by  processes  of 
nature  in  anticipation  of  his  advent.  They 
have  no  meaning,  and  no  reason  for  exist- 
ence, so  far  as  we  can  see,  apart  from  the 
uses  of  man.  Take  radium,  the  newest  and 
most  marvellous  of  the  metals  that  have 
come  to  our  knowledge,  and  in  all  probability 
it  is  as  old  as  the  sun.  Indeed,  some  scientific 
men  describe  it  as  "a  bit  of  the  sun  im- 
prisoned in  the  earth  "  ;  but  whether  it  is  that 
or  not,  for  untold  millions  of  years  it  has 
been  a  part  of  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God. 
Physicians  everywhere  are  trying  experi- 
ments with  the  mysterious  matter,  so  far  as 
they  can  get  hold  of  it.  One-tenth  of  a 
grain  is  supply  enough  for  making  tests,  for 
the  energy  of  radium  is  simply  tremendous. 
The  efficacy  of  it  in  the  treatment  of  certain 
diseases  is  being  proved  more  and  more. 
Cancers  and  ulcers,  incurable  by  any  other 
remedies,  have  recently  been  healed  by  the 
application  of  radium.  Some  physicians 
believe  that  consumption  can  be  cured  by 
inhaling  air  that  has  passed  over  radium 
dissolved  in  water.  It  has  been  discovered 
that  radium  is  death  to  all  sorts  of  bacteria 
and  microbes.  While  exceedingly  rare,  it  has 
the  property  of  making  other  substances 
radio-active,  and  so  of  multiplying  its  powers 


200   THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD 

almost  indefinitely.  What  its  possibilities  are 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  healing  art  it 
would  be  presumption  for  me  even  to  suggest; 
but  with  our  present  light  we  are  justified  in 
referring  to  it  as  a  wonderful  illustration  of 
the  laid-up  goodness  of  God  in  nature. 

From  metals  and  minerals,  pass  to  forces. 
This  is  what  may  be  called  the  electric  age, 
but  the  subtle  agent  which  warrants  the 
phrase  has  been  in  the  world  from  the 
beginning.  Earth  and  sea  and  air  are  full 
of  it,  and  always  have  been,  but  not  until 
less  than  a  generation  ago  did  man  begin  to 
make  large  drafts  upon  this  stored-up  good- 
ness of  God.  We  had  the  telegraph,  to  be 
sure,  but  beyond  that  little  was  known,  and 
little  use  was  made  of  electricity.  To-day, 
however,  we  apply  it  in  a  thousand  ways. 
It  rings  our  bells,  it  lights  our  homes  and 
our  streets,  it  propels  our  cars,  it  does 
service  in  office  and  picture  gallery,  it  is  the 
motor  power  of  factories,  and  is  made  to 
contribute  to  human  comfort  in  I  know  not 
how  many  directions.  But  as  yet  we  are 
only  on  the  edges  of  it.  The  treasures  of 
electricity  have  scarcely  been  touched  upon 
up  to  date.  It  has  more  in  store  for  man 
than  has  ever  entered  into  his  boldest  dreams. 
These  are  only  hints  of  the  laid-up  goodness 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD   201 

of  God  in  the  physical  universe  around  us. 
Much  has  come  to  light ;  but  far  more  is 
coming.  Forces  and  resources  as  old  as  Time 
will  yet  be  discovered  and  made  to  serve  the 
uses  of  man.  His  mastery  of  nature  w^ill  go 
on  and  on,  and  the  achievements  of  the  past 
in  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  earth  will  be 
as  nothing  compared  with  the  achievements 
of  the  future ;  and  every  step  of  advance- 
ment, every  new  invention,  every  additional 
discovery  will  but  emphasise  the  laid-up 
goodness  of  God. 

II.  From  nature  turn  to  Providence.  I  am 
not  talking  to  atheists,  but  to  men  and 
women  who  believe  that  God  is  in  His  world, 
and  that  all  the  movements  of  history  and 
society  are  under  His  Divine  superintendence. 
Things  are  not  going  on  by  chance,  or  turning 
out  according  to  some  grim  and  pitiless  fate. 
Through  all  that  is  taking  place,  through  all 
wars,  and  all  accidents,  and  all  calamities, 
and  all  tragedies  and  disasters  one  eternal 
purpose  runs ;  all  the  various  actors  are 
playing  out  their  part  upon  the  stage 
according  to  a  plan,  and  that  plan  is  full 
of  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God. 

I  know  it  is  a  hard  book  to  read — this  book 
of  Providence.  Its  lessons  are  not  so  easily 
understood  as  the  lessons   of  Nature.     Their 


202  THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD 

meaning  is  often  hidden.  It  was  no  doubt 
with  this  in  mind  that  Cowper  wrote— 

"  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform, 
He  plants  His  footsteps  in  the  sea 
And  rides  upon  the  storm." 

One  reason,  I  suppose,  why  His  providence 
is  so  difficult  to  interpret  is  because  it  is 
not,  like  creation,  a  finished  work.  It  is 
still  unfolding.  New  chapters  are  constantly 
being  added.  God  knows  what  He  is  going 
to  write.  There  is  no  confusion  in  His  mind. 
From  beginning  to  end  it  is  all  perfectly  clear 
to  Him.  But  it  is  not  so  to  us.  "  Take  a 
man,"  as  Dr.  Guthrie  says,  "  to  a  house  when 
the  architect  is  in  the  middle  of  his  plans,  and 
with  walls  half  built  and  arches  half  sprung, 
rooms  without  doors,  and  pillars  without 
capitals,  what  appears  perfect  order  to  the 
architect,  who  has  the  plan  all  in  his  eye, 
to  the  other  will  seem  a  scene  of  perfect 
confusion.  And  so  stands  man  amid  that 
vast  scheme  of  providence  which  God  began 
six  thousand  years  ago  and  may  not  finish 
for  as  many  thousand  years  to  come." 

Let  me  illustrate  by  an  instance  or  two. 
Stolen  away  from  his  father's  side,  cast  into 
a  pit,  sold  into  slavery,  carried  into  Egypt, 
and,   though    innocent    of    any    crime,   com- 


THE   LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD   203 

mitted  to    a    filthy    dungeon,    Joseph    must 
have  felt  his  lot  a  hard   one  indeed,  and  if 
he  had  cried  out  in  rebellion  it   would   not 
have    been    strange.      We     can    sympathise 
with  the  old  man  Jacob  when  he  exclaims, 
"  All  these  things  are  against  me."     His  heart 
was   crushed  and  broken,  and  to   Joseph,   I 
am  sure,  the  sorrow  of  it  all  must  sometimes 
have   been   overwhelming.     But    by  and   by, 
when  raised  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  exalted 
to  the  premiership  of  a  great  empire,  put  in 
a  position  where  he  could  lay  up  corn  with 
which  to  save  his  own  people  from  starva- 
tion, he  could  see,  and  his  old  father  could 
see,  at  every  turn  of  the  road  and  in  every 
crook  in  their  lot  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God. 
Or  look  at  the   case    of   David.     He    was 
taken  from  the  sheepfolds,  where  his  young 
life   was   sunny  and  free  from  anxiety,  and 
where  the  days  were  filled  with  brightness, 
to   experiences   of   the   most  harrowing  and 
cruel  sort.     He  was  envied,  suspected,  hated, 
hunted  over  the  hills  of  Judah   like  a  wild 
beast,   and   in   daily  peril   of   his   life.     Such 
was  the  road  he  had  to  travel  to  the  throne 
which  was  really  thrust  upon  him  ;  and  after 
he  reached  it  the  road  was  quite  as  thorny. 
But  later  on,  with  his  kingdom  established, 
with  his  character  purified  and  enriched  by 


204   THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD 

communion  with  Heaven,  with  his  name  and 
fame  wrought  into  Israel's  history  for  ever, 
with  the  whole  providential  sweep  of  his 
career  lying  before  him,  he  could  take  his 
harp  and  sing,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and 
all  that  is  within  me  bless  His  holy  name." 

Now,  we  are  not  to  think  of  these  cases  as 
exceptional.  The  laid-up  goodness  of  God's 
providence  was  not  more  manifest  in  the 
lives  of  Joseph  and  David  than  some  day 
it  will  be  in  ours.  Some  day  we  shall  see 
that  we  never  drank  one  bitter  cup  too  much, 
that  we  never  climbed  one  steep  hill  too 
many,  that  all  our  heartaches  and  disap- 
pointments, that  all  our  sorrows  and 
afflictions,  had  underlying  them,  as  the  very 
soil  out  of  which  they  grew,  the  unchanging 
benevolence  of  our  Heavenly  Father.  We 
shall  see  that  the  way  that  seemed  right 
to  us,  and  most  desirable,  was  all  wrong, 
a  way  of  danger  and  destruction,  and  that 
if  the  gracious  God  had  not  turned  us  out 
of  it  with  a  stern  hand,  we  would  have  gone 
on  to  inevitable  ruin. 

I  love  to  think  that  as  God's  child  I  am 
in  the  good  ship  Providence,  and  that  He 
who  is  at  the  wheel  is  master  of  every  wind 
that  blows  and  of  every  wave  that  dashes 
against   the  vessel ;  that  all  the  veering   and 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD   205 

tacking,  all  the  rough  tossing,  all  the  dis- 
comforts of  the  voyage,  all  the  storms  and 
cloudy  days,  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  great 
Captain's  thoughtfulness  and  love  as  are  the 
still  sea  and  the  sunny  sky.  It  must  be  so 
if  God  is  what  this  Bible  represents  Him  to 
be.  Nothing  but  good  can  come  from  the 
infinitely  good. 

Things  which  in  themselves  are  evil  God 
converts  into  instruments  of  beneficence. 
Out  of  the  destructive  storm  comes  the  death 
of  malaria  and  better  health  for  the  people. 
Out  of  pestilence  comes  a  providential 
stimulus  to  sanitary  progress  which  can  be 
produced  in  no  other  way.  Out  of  famine 
comes  a  development  of  philanthropy  and 
Godlike  sympathy  that  glorifies  humanity. 
Out  of  heathen  degradation  comes  the 
heroism  of  missions.  Out  of  difficulty  and 
conflict  come  such  heroic  virtues  as  fortitude, 
force  of  will,  self-control,  and  unselfish  gene- 
rosity. Even  out  of  the  criminal  blunders 
of  men,  resulting  in  accidents  and  such 
appalling  loss  of  life  that  the  whole  world 
is  shocked,  come  larger  safety  and  greater 
care  and  more  concern  for  human  welfare. 
It  was  no  reader  of  the  surface,  but  the 
deep-seeing,  profoundly  thoughtful  Paul,  who 
said,    "All   things   work  together   for   good." 


206  THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

The  whole  sweep  of  history  is  an  illustration 
of  this  truth.  Down  beneath  all  its  wars, 
all  its  upheavals,  all  its  agitations,  all  its 
revolutions,  from  the  beginning  until  now 
has  been  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God.  Dip 
into  its  annals  where  you  please,  study  their 
outcome,  note  their  effect  upon  mankind  as 
a  whole,  and  in  every  case  you  find  them 
making  large  contributions  to  righteousness. 
The  French  Revolution,  terrific  as  it  was, 
may  be  cited  in  proof.  It  was  cruel,  it  was 
bloody,  it  was  awful,  and  yet  every  student 
of  that  tremendous  period  knows  how  richly 
freighted  it  was  with  blessings  for  mankind. 
It  was  that  Revolution,  more  than  anything 
else,  that  made  the  literature  and  the  liberty 
and  the  progress  of  all  the  subsequent  years 
possible.  In  that  unparalleled  drama  of  fire 
and  sword  and  guillotine  the  Past  was 
brought  to  bay,  and  in  the  struggle  exhaled 
all  its  miasmas,  and  hurled  all  its  thunder- 
bolts, and  protruded  all  its  horrible  talons, 
only  to  exhaust  itself  and  die  at  the  hands 
of  a  Present  that  was  wild  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  hope.  That  Present  was  big  with 
Democracy,  big  with  the  rights  of  the  people, 
big  with  the  principles  that  are  still  lifting 
society  and  government  to-day.  So  in  our 
revolutionary  war,   in    our    stupendous   civil 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD   207 

war,  in  the  late  war  with  Spain,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  discern  the  laid-up  goodness  of 
God.  Out  through  the  sorrow  and  the  heart- 
ache of  camps  and  battle-fields,  of  deaths  and 
agonies,  there  come  a  wider  freedom,  a  nobler 
humanity,  and  a  more  beneficent  civilisation. 
We  look  out  upon  the  Orient  to-day, 
shaking  beneath  the  tread  of  contending 
armies,  with  tens  of  thousands  of  men  at 
grips  with  death,  and  the  first  impression  is 
one  of  revulsion,  one  of  horror,  and  espe- 
cially if  we  are  at  all  endowed  with  a  realistic 
imagination.  We  see  mighty  battle-ships 
belching  forth  destruction,  and  the  flash  of 
cannon  and  the  glare  of  rockets  and  search- 
lights painting  hell  on  the  sky.  We  see  the 
hills  about  Port  Arthur  crowned  with 
artillery  and  with  every  instrument  of  ruin 
and  demolition  that  the  diabolical  science  of 
modern  warfare  has  devised.  We  see  the 
long  files  of  soldiers,  the  rush,  the  clash,  the 
carnage,  the  awful  slaughter  of  our  brother 
men,  and  as  we  contemplate  the  fearful 
carnival  of  death  and  think  back  to  its 
meaning  for  unnumbered  far-away  homes, 
we  wonder  where  there  can  be  any  laid-up 
goodness  of  God  in  all  that.  If  it  is  so  awful 
to  read  about,  so  awful  on  the  other  side 
of  the  globe,  what  would  it  be  if  we  could 


208  THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

see  it  out  of  our  window?  The  horror  of 
it  would  be  dreadful  beyond  all  telling  ;  and 
yet,  though  we  may  not  see  it  now,  I  am 
very  sure  that  that  great  Eastern  war  will 
issue  in  immense  blessings  to  mankind.  It 
will  arouse  China  from  her  age-long  sleep. 
It  will  open  that  hoary  empire  to  the  trade 
of  the  world.  It  will  shake  down  the  idols 
of  superstition  and  prepare  the  soil  for  the 
seed  of  the  Gospel.  In  that  war  the  Orient 
is  in  the  travail  pain  of  a  new  birth.  Out 
of  it  all  will  come  deliverance  from  thral- 
doms both  civil  and  religious,  that  are  hoary 
with  the  snows  of  countless  years.  When 
the  smoke  of  battle  has  cleared  away  and 
the  war-drum  has  been  laid  aside,  the  world 
will  see  how  full  of  the  laid-up  goodness  of 
God  that  famous  struggle  was. 

III.  From  Providence  let  us  pass  to  seek 
for  further  illustration  in  the  realm  of  grace. 
This  will  take  us  to  still  higher  ground,  and 
give  to  ou?  subject  a  still  keener  accent.  It 
will  bring  us  to  the  hill  called  Calvary, 
which  in  importance,  in  its  infinite  reach  of 
meaning,  overtops  all  the  hills  of  earth  and 
time.  It  is  old,  and  the  paths  that  lead  up 
its  slopes  are  well  worn,  and  all  its  environ- 
ment is  familiar,  but  let  us  climb  it  once 
again,  and  from  that  summit  and  center  of 


THE   LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD   209 

grace  survey,  for  a  moment  or  two,  the 
laid-up  goodness  of  God. 

There  on  that  hill  of  love  we  learn  from 
the  Saviour  Himself  that  the  Crucifixion  was 
simply  the  culmination  of  an  ancient  pro- 
gramme, the  last  act  in  a  drama  that  was 
planned  in  the  heart  of  God  before  ever  the 
morning  stars  sang  together.  It  was  revealed 
to  John  on  Patmos  that  Jesus  was  the  Lamb 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;  and 
Peter  declares  that  He  was  foreordained 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world  to  be 
the  Saviour  of  men.  It  is  a  wonderful  thought 
to  those  who  give  it  serious   consideration. 

There  are  people  who  think  of  the  Cross 
as  a  kind  of  supplement  or  addendum,  some- 
thing erected  on  the  field  of  history  as  an 
after-thought  of  the  Divine  mind.  According 
to  their  way  of  looking  at  it,  God  had  finished 
His  great  book  and  written  finis  on  the  last 
page,  and  then,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few 
thousand  years,  it  occurred  to  Him  to  add 
another  chapter,  called  the  Cross.  He  saw 
the  necessity  for  something  heroic,  and  so 
enlarged  His  book  by  appending  the  incident 
of  the  crucifixion.  The  tragedy  on  Calvary 
came  in  as  a  kind  of  annex,  and  was  no  part 
of  the  architect's  original  plan. 

But  that  view  of  the  case  belittles  God 
15 


210   THE   LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

and  brings  Him  within  the  limits  of  falli- 
bility. If  He  could  have  any  after-thoughts, 
or  write  any  supplements,  or  make  any 
amendments  to  any  plans  of  His,  or  be  forced 
to  any  change  of  programme,  or  any  altera- 
tion of  tactics,  He  would  not  be  God.  Such 
a  God  as  that  could  not  inspire  our  worship 
and  would  not  be  worthy  of  our  adoration. 
He  would  be  little  better  than  the  deities 
of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  The  God  of 
the  Bible,  the  God  of  Christianity,  saw  the 
end  from  the  beginning.  With  Him  there 
is  no  time,  no  far-off  future,  no  remote  past, 
but  one  eternal  Now.  All  that  has  ever 
occurred,  and  all  that  can  ever  take  place, 
all  facts,  all  events,  are  for  ever  present  to 
the  mind  of  God.  The  necessities  of  time- 
measurements,  of  yesterdays,  to-days,  and 
to-morrows,  of  years  and  centuries  and 
millenniums,  are  the  necessities  of  finite  and 
imperfect  beings.  If  this  were  always  remem- 
bered it  would  clear  up  a  good  many  hard 
questions  of  theology,  such  as  predestination 
and  foreordination. 

We  say  the  Cross  was  set  up  two  thousand 
years  ago,  but  that  is  only  a  small  part  of 
the  truth — the  truth  as  seen  from  the  human 
side.  The  larger,  the  complete  fact  is,  that 
the   Cross  is   as  old  as  the  heart  of  infinite 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF   GOD   211 

Love.  God  being  what  He  is,  a  sacrificial 
God,  a  giving  God,  the  Cross  is  an  essential 
attribute  of  His  nature,  and  therefore  came 
up  out  of  eternity  and  manifested  itself  in 
time.  Instead  of  being  an  after-thought, 
it  belongs  to  the  original  constitution  of 
things.  Jesus  brought  it  with  Him,  for  He 
was  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world ;  He  took  it  with  Him,  for  John 
saw  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  a  Lamb  as 
it  had  been  slain;  and  for  ever  and  for  ever 
that  slain  Lamb  will  be  the  leading  strain 
in  the  music  of  the  skies. 

Well,  now  he  must  be  blind  indeed  who 
cannot  see  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God  in 
all  this  scheme  of  redeeming  grace.  It  is 
wonderful,  it  is  inspiring,  and  if  we  were  as 
appreciative,  as  responsive,  as  we  should  be, 
it  would  thrill  us  to  think  that  long  before 
the  dawn  of  creation,  long  before  the  stars 
began  to  sing  and  shine,  all  there  is  in  the 
atonement,  all  there  is  in  the  salvation  of 
the  Cross,  all  there  is  of  pardon  and  recon- 
ciliation, all  there  is  of  peace  and  hope  and 
joy  for  the  sinner  in  the  blood  of  Christ, 
was  laid  up  for  us  in  the  covenant  of  life. 
We  were  all  of  us  in  God's  plan,  in  God's 
thought,  and  on  God's  heart,  from  the 
dateless     beginning     of    the     universe.      Put 


212  THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS   OF  GOD 

into  the  Cross  all  the  meaning  you  choose 
and  you  will  fall  far  short  of  what  it  contains 
of  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God. 

IV.  It  is  time  now  to  lead  you  a  step  higher. 
From  grace  let  us  turn  to  glory.  The  one 
is  the  introduction  to  the  other.  They  are 
as  inseparably  related  as  the  fountain  and 
the  stream,  or  as  the  vestibule  and  the 
auditorium,  or  as  the  door  and  the  room  into 
which  it  opens.  We  are  told  that  in  ancient 
Athens  there  were  two  temples — a  temple  of 
virtue  and  a  temple  of  honour;  and  there 
was  no  going  into  the  temple  of  honour  but 
through  the  temple  of  virtue.  So  we  enter 
the  kingdom  of  glory  only  through  the 
kingdom  of  grace.  People  who  aspire  after 
the  one  and  neglect  the  other  are  doomed 
to  crushing  disappointment  and  despair. 
God  hath  joined  them  together,  and  no  human 
wisdom  or  authority  may  presume  to  put 
them  asunder.  The  way  of  grace  is  the  way 
to  glory,  and  there  is  no  other  way.  Who- 
soever, high  or  low,  tastes  of  the  laid-up 
goodness  in  glory  must  first  of  all  taste  of 
the  laid-up  goodness  of  grace. 

But,  assuming  that  we  are  children  of  grace, 
sinners  saved  by  the  Cross  of  Jesus,  I  want 
to  say  a  final  word  about  what  is  in  store 
for     us.      It    must    be     a     trembling,     frag- 


THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD   213 

mentary  word  at  best,  for  it  is  a  theme 
that  might  well  tax  an  archangel's  powers  of 
speech.  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  Him."  They  are  blessed  beyond 
all  description  and  beyond  all  imagination. 
I  cannot  go  into  details,  I  dare  not,  for  the 
Bible  gives  me  no  warrant  for  that.  But  I 
think  that  I  am  perfectly  justified  in  saying 
that  the  laid-up  goodness  of  God  in  glory 
consists  in  large  degree  of  the  boundless  pro- 
vision He  has  made  for  the  exercise  and  satis- 
faction of  love.  There  is  more  in  this  than 
appears  on  the  surface.  We  were  surely 
made  to  love,  and  so  capacious,  so  hungry, 
so  all-devouring  is  love  that  there  is  not 
enough  in  all  the  relationships  of  earth  to 
satisfy  it.  First  the  little  child  learns  to  love 
father  and  mother,  then  its  love  expands  and 
takes  in  sisters  and  brothers,  then  it  goes  out 
to  friends  and  neighbours ;  then  to  native 
land,  and  we  call  it  patriotism  ;  then  to  man- 
kind, and  we  call  it  philanthropy.  But  it 
cannot  be  confined  to  these ;  it  must  sweep  on 
and  on  until  it  finds  a  receptacle  big  enough 
to  hold  it  and  appease  its  hunger  for  ever. 

Let  me  use  an  old  illustration,  but  one 
always  fresh  and  sweet.  Here  is  a  mother 
with  half  a  dozen   children.     Does   she   split 


214   THE  LAID-UP  GOODNESS  OF  GOD 

up  her  love  and  give  to  each  one  of  them  a 
sixth  of  it,  so  that  when  it  is  thus  parcelled 
out  her  love  is  exhausted  ?  No,  she  loves 
each  one  with  all  her  love,  and  has  it  all  left 
for  the  good  man  whom  she  knew  and  loved 
before  any  of  the  six  were  born.  But  these 
family  relations  cannot  absorb  it.  It  over- 
flows them  all,  surpasses  them  all,  and  longs 
for  a  heart  into  which  it  can  pour  its  full 
flood  throughout  eternity.  This  it  finds  in 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  in  the  God  who 
became  flesh  and  dwelt  amongst  us.  It  is 
sweet  to  love  those  who  have  been  given  to 
us  in  the  tender  relations  of  family  life  ;  but 
they  die,  and  we  cling  to  their  memory  with 
tears  and  our  love  is  unsatisfied.  We  want 
something  more.  We  must  have  something 
more.  But  God  lives — God  the  good,  God  the 
holy,  God  glorious  in  His  majesty,  always 
offering  Himself  to  the  embrace  of  our  love, 
our  inheritance  and  our  portion  for  ever. 
Through  all  eternity  we  shall  explore  Him, 
we  shall  be  getting  acquainted  with  Him,  we 
shall  revel  in  Him,  we  shall  climb  from  height 
to  height  of  His  boundless  nature,  and  be  en- 
raptured as  we  go  deeper  and  deeper  into  His 
attributes  and  drink  in  more  and  more  of 
His  glory.  To  know  God,  to  grow  in  know- 
ledge of  Him,  this  pre-eminently  is  the  laid- 
up  goodness  that  awaits  all  who  love  Him. 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 


"  But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous- 
ness."— Matt.  vi.  33. 


WHEN  Jesus  says  to  His  disciples,  "  Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness,"  He  is  urging  a  right  putting 
of  emphasis.  As  the  great  Teacher  and 
Saviour  of  men  He  is  supremely  anxious  that 
they  shall  make  first  things  first.  He  drives 
straight  at  the  centre  and  heart  of  things. 
The  essential  and  not  the  accidental,  the 
vital  and  not  the  formal,  is  what  He  demands. 
In  the  days  of  His  flesh  He  found  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  exceedingly  scrupulous  about 
trifles,  while  they  were  hopelessly  dead  to  the 
weighty  matters  of  true  religion.  Punctilious 
about  little  nothings,  they  had  no  eye  and 
no  heart  for  subjects  of  genuine  magnitude. 
Some  wretched  shibboleth  was  more  to  them 
than  mercy  toward  the  fallen  and  help  for 
the  burdened.     They  carried  their  petty  pro- 

217 


218    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

hibitions  and  injunctions  to  the  extreme 
of  ridiculous  caricature.  The  needs  of 
humanity  and  the  claims  of  God  were 
nothing  in  comparison  with  the  importance 
of  fastings  and  washings  and  the  observance 
of  senseless  sectarian  rules. 

The  mistake  which  they  made  is  repeated 
by  every  generation.  We  are  making  it  to- 
day, and  there  never  was  a  yesterday  when  it 
was  not  conspicuous  in  the  conduct  of  men. 
Out  of  this  mistake,  out  of  this  blind  and 
stupid  and  almost  criminal  blunder,  have 
come  all  the  wars  and  woes  of  humanity. 
We  criticise,  if  we  do  not  contemn,  the  cold 
and  narrow  moralism  of  the  Pharisees,  and 
we  laugh  at  the  folly  of  the  old  schoolmen 

who  could — 

"  A  hair  divide 
Between  the  west  and  north-west  side," 

and  who  spent  much  time  in  learned  specula- 
tions upon  the  number  of  angels  that  could 
dance  on  the  point  of  a  cambric  needle  ;  but 
we  cannot  afford  to  be  too  severe  on  them 
lest  we  pronounce  sentence  against  ourselves. 
The  play  has  changed,  but  not  the  fact.  If 
the  actors  are  new,  the  old  drama  is  still  on 
the  stage.  In  the  State,  in  the  Church,  in 
society,  and  in  life,  nothing  has  ever  wrought 
more  mischief  in  the  past,  and  nothing  in  the 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    219 

world  at  the  present  time  is  doing  more  to 
retard  the  progress  of  the  kingdom,  than 
laying  the  stress  in  the  wrong  place. 

History  is  not  so  much  a  record  of  truth  as 
of  accent  placed  here  or  there  by  the  bias  and 
preference  of  its  writers,  or  by  their  lack  of 
ability  to  perceive  its  great  underlying  forces. 
You  turn  its  pages,  and  if  there  is  a  Caesar 
or  a  Genghis  Khan,  or  a  Napoleon,  who  has 
put  his  fellow-men  to  the  sword  and  marked 
his  path  with  rivers  of  human  blood,  he  is 
written  large ;  he  fiUs  all  the  foreground  of 
the  picture ;  but  for  the  name  of  the  man 
who  invented  the  mariner's  compass  you  will 
search  in  vain.  A  thousand  are  familiar  with 
the  wars  that  have  devastated  the  earth 
where  not  one  can  tell  us  about  the  discovery 
of  electricity  which  is  to-day  transforming 
the  world.  Gutenberg,  who,  by  his  invention 
of  printing  with  movable  types,  has  wrought 
greater  revolutions  and  mightier  emancipa- 
tions that  all  the  generals  and  captains  that 
ever  since  his  time  set  their  armies  in 
array,  is  far  less  known  than  Alexander,  or 
Hannibal,  or  Cromwell,  or  Wellington. 

About  dynasties  of  kings  and  conquerors, 
about  successions  to  thrones,  about  courts 
and  palaces  and  politics,  the  historians  write 
with  wearisome  detail,  but  how  much  have 


220    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

they  to  say  about  the  dynasties  of  genius  out 
of  which  have  come  the  real  springs  of 
civilisation?  The  succession  of  the  Bour- 
bons—  every  schoolboy  is  acquainted  with 
that ;  but  the  vastly  more  important  succes- 
sion of  Watt,  Stephenson,  Fulton,  and  Morse 
— the  first  of  whom  discovered  the  power  of 
steam,  the  second  of  whom  gave  us  the 
locomotive,  the  third  the  steamship,  and  the 
fourth  telegraphy  —  how  meagre  the  know- 
ledge about  that !  Compare  the  space  which 
Shakespeare  fills  in  English  history  with  that 
of  Bloody  Mary  or  the  Stuarts,  and  it  is  like 
comparing  a  paragraph  with  a  volume,  or 
a  word  with  a  dictionary.  The  historians 
dismiss  John  Wycliffe  with  a  page  or  two, 
they  devote  libraries  to  the  Plantagenets.  A 
line  for  John  Milton  and  the  curtain  is  rung 
down,  while  Charles  I.  is  paraded  upon  the 
stage  ad  nauseam.  Giants  thrown  into 
eclipse  by  dwarfs ;  mountains  obscured  by 
ant-hills  ;  the  sun  dimmed  by  smoking  candles, 
the  real  creators  of  English  civilisation  and 
greatness  set  aside  to  make  room  for  royal 
nobodies  and  purpled  ciphers. 
■"  But  that,  very  largely,  is  what  we  call 
history.  Its  writers  have  blindly  and  stub- 
bornly persisted  in  making  subordinate 
matters  supreme,  third  or  fourth  things  first, 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    221 

and  in  putting  the  emphasis  in  the  wrong 
place.  They  have  punctuated  their  pages 
and  filled  their  chapters,  not  with  great 
principles,  but  with  petty  princes  and  schem- 
ing politicians ;  not  with  the  Divine  fire  of 
genius,  but  with  the  fooleries  of  courts  and 
cabinets.  What  is  going  on  at  the  Vatican  ? 
At  the  Kremlin?  At  the  Reichstag?  At 
Constantinople?  At  Washington?  That  is 
the  great  question.  As  for  the  poets,  the 
prophets,  the  philosophers,  the  inventors,  the 
educators,  the  reformers,  the  thinkers,  the 
scholars,  from  whose  brains  and  hearts  come 
the  forces  that  build  and  save  society, 
history  can  afford  them  but  little  space. 
What  they  are  doing  is  not  spectacular 
enough  to  put  upon  the  stage.  Humanity 
in  every  age  must  have  something  scenic, 
something  exciting,  something  external  and 
noisy,  and  so  the  emphasis  is  put  there.  It 
is  not  the  still  small  voices  that  interest  the 
people,  but  wind,  earthquake,  and  fire  ;  and 
what  more  natural  than  to  accentuate  that 
which  is  interesting? 

If  from  history  we  pass  to  what  is  called 
the  social  problem  we  shall  find  the  same 
mistake  constantly  on  the  surface.  The  social 
reformer  is  everywhere  in  evidence.  He  cries 
without.     He  utters   his  voice  in  the  streets, 


222    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

in  the  chief  place  of  concourse,  in  the  opening 
of  the  gates.  He  is  eager,  aggressive,  irre- 
pressible. And  he  has  his  mission.  For  there 
are  always  evils  to  be  denounced  and  wrongs 
to  be  righted.  I  believe  in  his  cause,  but  I 
cannot  endorse  his  methods.  They  can  only 
hurt  where  he  wants  to  heal.  The  trouble  is 
not  so  much  with  his  motive  as  with  his 
remedy. 

His  programme  is  radically  defective. 
There  is  no  lack  of  wounds  and  bruises  and 
putrefying  sores,  but  these  he  proposes  to 
heal  by  external  washings  and  cleansings  and 
surface  applications.  He  might  as  well  try 
to  sweeten  and  purify  a  stagnant  and  foul- 
smelling  pond  by  pouring  a  few  bottles  of 
ApoUinaris  water  into  it.  The  ooze  and 
slime  and  filth  at  the  bottom  of  society  are 
never  touched  by  such  a  process.  The  foolish 
man  is  putting  the  emphasis  in  the  wrong 
place.  There  is  disease,  there  is  pestilence  in 
the  house,  and  he  would  banish  it  by  painting 
the  outside  walls.  He  is  the  kind  of  a  doctor 
that  would  cure  the  victim  of  consumption 
by  giving  him  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  All  his 
plans  and  pleadings  and  preachments  stop 
with  environment.  Only  let  us  have  better 
homes  for  the  people,  better  drainage,  better 
laws,  shorter  hours  of  labour,  more  external 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    223 

comforts,  and  the  social  millennium  will  be 
here.  Nationalise  the  land,  transfer  all  public 
utilities  to  the  State,  substitute  a  paternal 
collectivism  for  individual  effort,  lift  the  in- 
competent and  the  unskilful  and  the  un- 
worthy to  the  plane  upon  which  the  self- 
reliant  and  industrious  and  resourceful  stand, 
and  which  they  have  reached  by  their  own 
pluck  and  perseverance — only  do  these  things, 
and  the  golden  age  of  the  social  reformer  will 
have  come. 

But  a  more  absurd  dream  was  never  in- 
dulged. When  you  can  build  an  ideal  house 
out  of  decayed  and  worm-eaten  material,  or 
create  ideal  purity  in  a  murky  stream  by 
planting  flowers  upon  its  banks,  or  produce 
ideal  health  in  a  diseased  body  by  a  little  skin- 
washing,  or  an  ideal  scholar  by  surrounding 
a  youth  with  books  and  schools — when  you 
have  wrought  such  impossibilities  as  these, 
you  may  hope  to  make  an  ideal  society  with- 
out ideal  men,  but  not  until  then.  Jesus 
never  proceeded  after  the  fashion  of  the 
social  reformer.  He  addressed  Himself  to  the 
interior  currents  of  the  soul,  and  made  first 
things  first.  He  saw  that  to  redeem  society 
from  the  gross  and  the  animal  and  the  selfish, 
or,  in  His  own  phrase,  to  bring  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,  you  must  have  kingly  men,  and  hence 


224    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

He  devoted  Himself  to  the  innermost  citadel 
and  sought  to  get  God  into  individual  hearts. 
To  talk  about  better  environment,  and  better 
sanitation,  and  better  education  as  the 
remedy  for  economic  ills — to  see  nothing 
deeper  than  that  programme — is  a  misplace- 
ment of  emphasis  vi^hich  is  doing  infinite 
harm.  It  disturbs,  it  unsettles,  it  tears  down, 
it  lifts  up  axes  and  hammers  upon  the  carved 
work,  but  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  recon- 
struct. Such  a  programme  must  end  in  ruin 
and  not  in  restoration.  The  fundamental 
need  of  society  is  more  manhood,  more 
womanhood,  better  people,  first  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  in  individual  hearts,  and  then 
the  social  conditions  that  are  longed  for,  and 
hoped  for,  will  materialise.  If,  instead  of 
finding  fault  with  the  present  order  of  things, 
agitators  and  malcontents  did  but  devote 
their  energies  to  making  themselves  better, 
the  problem  of  a  better  society  would  soon  be 
solved. 

It  will  bring  the  matter  closer  and  be  more 
to  the  point,  however,  to  consider  the  bear- 
ings of  our  subject  in  the  realm  of  religion. 
Nowhere  is  a  wrong  putting  of  emphasis 
more  conspicuous  or  more  mischievous  than 
here.  The  history  of  it  is  not  inspiring,  and 
as  we  look  out  upon  its  work  to-day  in  Bibli- 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    225 

cal  interpretation,  in  religious  literature,  in 
Christian  activity,  and  among  the  Churches, 
it  is  not  calculated  to  stir  our  enthusiasm. 

I  call  your  attention  to  a  few  illustrations, 
beginning  with  the  doctrine  of  Creation. 
With  the  heated  controversies  and  word- 
battles  that  have  raged  over  this  subject,  and 
the  endless  pamphleteering  that  has  been 
indulged  in,  all  intelligent  people  are  familiar. 
Some  have  laid  the  stress  on  the  time  element. 
They  have  quoted  the  Catechism  and  the 
Bible,  and  insisted  that  "  in  six  days  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all 
that  in  them  is  " — six  literal  days  of  twenty- 
four  hours  each.  Not  to  believe  that  was 
considered  a  dangerous  heresy  a  few  years 
ago. 

Then  the  method  of  creation  has  been  dis- 
cussed and  fought  over  with  even  greater 
earnestness  and  determination.  On  the  one 
side  were  those  who  contended  for  creation 
by  fiat ;  on  the  other,  for  creation  by  p7^ocess. 
This  school  affirmed  that  creation  came  in  a 
flash  by  the  word  of  Almighty  power;  that 
school  declared  that  it  came  through  count- 
less ages  by  the  inworking  of  Divine  energy. 
So  the  fight  has  gone  on,  and  it  still  goes  on. 
But  in  the  persistent  wrangle  and  debate  the 
matter   of    supreme    importance,   the  imma- 

16 


226    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

nent,  the  eternal,  the  creating  God,  has  been 
kept  too  much  in  the  background.  The 
parties  to  the  controversy  have  failed  to  see 
that  the  main  thing  is  not  that  the  heavens 
and  earth  were  created  in  six  literal  days  or 
in  countless  millions  of  ages,  not  that  the 
universe  came  by  fiat  or  by  process,  but  that 
it  came — came  by  the  power  of  God ;  that 
God  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever 
shall  be.  If  the  one  supreme,  all-absorbing, 
all-controlling  thought  had  been  God,  not  a 
little  lake  God,  or  class  God,  or  provincial 
God,  but  a  God  oceanic,  with  all  the  currents 
of  creation  in  His  heart,  all  these  smaller 
issues  would  have  been  avoided,  and  thinkers 
of  all  schools  would  have  bowed  in  adoration 
and  prayer. 

Passing  to  the  fall  of  man,  we  find  the  same 
thing — the  emphasis  put  too  much  upon  the 
mere  drapery  of  the  truth,  rather  than  upon 
the  truth  itself.  The  author  of  Genesis  tells 
us  that  the  serpent  spoke  to  the  woman, 
beguiled  her,  tempted  her,  and  persuaded  her 
to  eat  the  forbidden  fruit.  She  yielded,  "  and 
gave  also  unto  her  husband  with  her,  and  he 
did  eat."  Then  follows  the  account  of  their 
awakened  and  piercing  sense  of  shame. 
What  vain  and  empty  wrangling  and  hair- 
splitting  there   has   been   over  it  all !     How 


A  BIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    227 

could  a  serpent  talk,  and  what  harm  could 
there  be  in  eating  an  apple,  and  what  theo- 
logical paper-houses  have  been  built  up  out 
of  that  fig-leaf  business  ! 

It  is  pitiful  to  note  how  the  commentators 
dwell  upon  these  trifles  and  amplify  their 
discussion  of  them  into  scores  of  dreary 
pages,  while  the  innermost  substance  of  it  all 
is  too  often  passed  over  very  lightly.  Leav- 
ing the  serpent  and  the  woman,  and  the  apple 
and  the  fig-leaf  entirely  to  one  side,  evidently 
something  has  gone  wrong  with  our  world. 
Distrust  is  here,  dishonesty  is  here,  hatred 
is  here,  a  thousand  black  passions  burn  in 
human  hearts  and  flame  in  human  society. 
Selfishness  shows  its  ugly  features  wherever 
men  and  women  congregate.  Cruelty  cuts 
and  grinds  and  kills.  The  fire  and  smoke  of 
war  paint  hell  on  the  sky  and  produce  hell  on 
the  earth.  Falsehood  paints  and  veneers  and 
deceives  from  the  Cabinet  to  the  cabin.  Im- 
purity stains  and  soils  and  slimes.  All  these 
things  we  add  together  and  call  them  sin. 
Sin  is  here — the  one  black  and  awful  fact  of 
the  universe ;  and  somewhere,  some  time, 
somehow  it  had  a  beginning,  and  that  begin- 
ning is  what  is  meant  by  the  Fall. 

There  is  nothing  to  laugh  at  in  the  Edenic 
story,  nothing  to  quibble  about,  or  make  light 


228    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

of,  if  we  are  serious  and  thoughtful  enough 
to  penetrate  through  the  literary  form  to 
the  tremendously  significant  fact  that  lies 
at  the  heart  of  it.  Nothing  is  more  certain 
than  that  the  poison  of  sin  got  into  the 
fountain-head  of  humanity's  great  stream. 
We  are  so  full  of  it,  every  one  of  us,  that 
ordinarily  it  doesn't  take  much  of  a  scratch 
to  reveal  the  wolf.  The  serpent  and  the  apple 
and  the  garden  are  only  the  small  frame- 
work of  the  picture ;  and  what  shall  we  say 
of  those  who  are  more  concerned  about  the 
framework  than  about  that  which  it  encloses? 
We  shall  have  to  say  of  them  that  they  are 
stupidly  committing  the  age-long  blunder  of 
putting  the  emphasis  in  the  wrong  place. 

What  we  need  in  Biblical  interpretation 
is  to  seize  upon  the  underlying,  essential 
truth,  and  lay  the  stress  there.  If  we  do 
not,  we  shall  justly  expose  ourselves  to  the 
ridicule  and  scorn  of  the  infidel,  to  the  con- 
tempt of  the  scholar,  to  the  distrust  of  people 
of  hard  common  sense,  and  make  ourselves 
unhappy  as,  year  after  year,  we  see  our 
positions  and  arguments  turned  upside-down. 
Instead  of  stopping  to  botanise  over  a  few 
unimportant  weeds  along  the  mountain-slope, 
let  us  make  sure  of  the  trend  of  the  great 
range    itself    and    follow    that.     Instead    of 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    229 

dissecting  and  analysing  the  cart  which  the 
baker  drives  up  to  our  door,  let  us  put  our- 
selves in  possession  of  the  bread. 

When,  for  example,  the  Bible  tells  us  that 
God  came  into  the  garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day 
and  Adam  and  Eve  tried  to  hide  themselves 
among  the  trees,  I  know  that  that  is  true, 
and  so  do  you,  because  w^e  know  ourselves. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  trees  and  gardens,  but 
of  experience.  Innocence  stays  in  the  light ; 
guilt  always  flies  to  cover.  Innocence  never 
hides  ;  guilt  never  courts  the  open.  The  very 
moment  a  man  does  wrong  he  begins  to  look 
around  for  the  trees  of  the  garden. 

Commit  iniquity  and  your  first  impulse  is 
one  of  concealment.  Sin  makes  fools  and 
cowards  of  us  all,  just  as  it  did  of  Adam  and 
Eve.  This  whole  story  of  Eden  is  as  true  as 
the  principles  of  geometry,  if  we  pierce  the 
shell  of  it  and  get  to  that  which  lies  beneath. 

Out  of  a  wrong  putting  of  emphasis  has 
come  the  sectarianism  which  is  to-day  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the  king- 
dom. Men  seize  upon  some  little  phase  or 
arc  of  truth  and  magnify  it  away  until  the 
mighty  sweep  and  significance  of  the  great 
circle  is  thrown  into  eclipse.  There  are 
people,  and  God  forbid  that  I  should  criticise 
them,  who  for  their  earnestness,  their  conse- 


230    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

cration,  their  integrity  of  life,  are  entitled 
to  profound  respect  and  admiration.  I  refer 
to  them  only  by  way  of  illustration.  In  their 
zeal  for  the  external,  physical,  second  coming 
of  our  Lord  they  seem  to  overlook  the  far 
more  practical  and  mighty  truth  that  Christ 
is  here  now,  that  He  is  a  present  and  not  an 
absent  Christ ;  that  this  growing  sense  of 
justice  that  cries  out  against  wrong ;  this 
growing  sense  of  humanity  that  cries  out 
against  war ;  this  increasing  sense  of  brother- 
hood that  calls  for  peace  conferences  and 
friendly  arbitration ;  this  earnest  study  of 
social  conditions ;  this  rapid  development 
of  a  social  conscience  that  is  everywhere 
calling  for  the  right  thing,  the  fair 
and  honest  thing — in  all  this  they  fail  to 
see  that  Christ  is  already  in  His  world  and 
His  truth  is  marching  on. 

But  they  are  not  alone  in  this  misplacement 
of  emphasis.  The  denominations  are  all 
guilty.  For  generations  they  have  laid  the 
stress  upon  the  little  things  in  which  they 
differ  rather  than  upon  the  great  funda- 
mentals in  which  they  are  agreed.  The 
mischief  of  it  will  never  be  fully  told.  We 
are  glad  to  note  a  drawing  together,  but  even 
yet  there  is  plenty  to  give  point  to  what  I 
am  now  saying.     One   body  of   Christians  is 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    231 

made  exclusive  and  unneighbourly  by  empha- 
sising Apostolic  Succession.  Its  pulpits  are 
not  open  to  those  who  love  the  same  Christ 
and  preach  the  same  Gospel.  Another  builds 
a  wall  around  the  communion-table  against 
all  who  were  not  baptized  by  immersion. 
Another  makes  the  singing  of  psalms  a 
sufficient  point  of  difference  to  justify  a 
separate  denomination.  Another  makes  its 
chief  rallying  cry  the  Seventh  Day  as  the 
unchanging  and  unchangeable  Sabbath.  And 
so  on  and  through  all  our  169  Christian 
sects. 

Instead  of  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  instead  of  making 
their  supreme  concern  the  conversion  of  men 
and  the  promotion  of  the  religion  of  the 
Cross,  is  it  unkind  or  extravagant  to  say, 
in  view  of  these  needless  and  unchristian 
divisions,  that  their  chief  anxiety  seems  to 
be  to  maintain  and  advance  their  distinctive 
doctrines  and  polities  and  sectarian  faiths? 
When  we  see  a  small  town  of  2,500  inhabi- 
tants, with  five  or  six  different  evangelical 
Churches,  every  one  of  which  is  jDOor  and  weak 
and  inefficient,  it  is  imx30ssible  not  to  raise  the 
question  as  to  their  inherent  and  fundamen- 
tal honesty.  Is  it  zeal  for  Christ,  or  zeal  for 
something  else  of  infinitely  less  importance, 


232    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

that  causes  such  a  waste  of  energy  and  a 
waste  of  money  and  a  scattering  of  forces? 
And  the  conditions  in  this  small  town  are 
duplicated  in  10,000  other  towns  throughout 
the  country.  Ministers  starving,  Churches 
starving,  too  feeble  to  make  any  impression 
upon  the  people,  nothing  attractive  either 
in  their  preaching  or  their  services,  when,  if 
they  were  wise  enough,  and  heroic  enough, 
and  unselfish  enough  to  unite  their  resources, 
they  might  have  one  central  place  of  worship 
and  of  Christian  activity  that  would  be  a  real 
power  in  the  community. 

But  they  stand  apart,  jealous  of  each  other, 
full  of  small  rivalries  and  unseemly  competi- 
tions, driven  to  all  sorts  of  unworthy  make- 
shifts to  keep  their  heads  above  water 
because  they  are  putting  the  emphasis  in  the 
wrong  place.  Denominational  shibboleths  are 
made  more  of  than  the  Saviour  of  men.  Cal- 
vinism, Arminianism,  Lutheranism — human 
names  are  lifted  above  the  name  of  Christ. 
The  main  question  with  them  is  not  how  to 
save  sinners,  but  how  to  save  the  sects.  If 
any  one  is  inclined  to  think  that  this  is  too 
strong,  let  him  look  through  our  Western 
towns,  let  him  consider  the  existence  of  our 
169  denominations  in  this  country,  and  he  will 
conclude    that    I    am    putting    it    much    too 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    233 

mildly.  Thank  God  for  the  signs  on  the 
horizon  that  a  better  day  is  dawning.  Men 
are  beginning  to  think  and  to  open  their  eyes. 
They  are  beginning  to  see  the  folly  and  the 
sin  of  our  sectarian  divisions.  The  conviction 
is  growing  upon  them  that  it  is  poor  econo- 
mics and  worse  religion  for  Christian  organi- 
sations, with  professedly  common  aims  and 
common  fundamental  beliefs  and  a  common 
Lord  and  a  common  hope,  to  stand  apart  on 
trifles.  They  are  coming  to  believe  that 
small  disagreements  and  non-essentials 
should  be  entombed  and  forgotten  in  the 
larger  interests  of  the  Church  universal. 
They  are  slowly  but  surely  coming  to  believe 
that  in  Christian  charity,  in  Christian  zeal, 
in  affectionate  brotherly  co-operation,  all  who 
love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should  unite  about 
the  Cross  for  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

Not  the  least  significant  of  these  auspicious 
signs  is  the  increasing  demand  for  evange- 
lism. The  call  for  it  is  becoming  pathetic. 
It  is  felt  by  multiplying  thousands  that  we 
must  have  the  old  evangel  of  the  Cross 
everywhere  in  the  front  or  yield  the  fight. 
If  men  are  not  sinners,  supremely  in  need 
of  salvation,  Christianity  has  no  mission  in 
the  world.  The  drift  back  to  evangelism 
is  a  drift  toward  a  right  putting  of  emphasis. 


234    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

There  can  be  no  evangelism  that  does  not 
lift  up  Christ,  and  Avhen  Christ  is  really  lifted 
up  all  lesser  lights  must  pale  like  stars 
before  the  rising  of  the  sun.  It  is  well 
enough  as  a  matter  of  history  to  make  much 
of  Calvin  and  Luther  and  Wesley,  but  sinners 
are  never  saved  until  human  names  fall  away 
into  eclipse,  and  no  man  is  seen  save  Jesus 
only.  Emphasise  Him,  exalt  Him,  keep  Him  in 
the  fore-front,  as  all  true  evangelism  must ; 
be  anxious  most  of  all  to  brush  away  the 
moss  and  the  rubbish  from  the  Rock,  and 
plead  with  the  sinner  to  plant  his  feet  there 
— that  Rock  is  Christ,  and  other  foundation 
can  no  man  lay — put  the  stress  upon  that, 
and  we  shall  have  evangelism  of  the  Pente- 
costal sort,  the  Paviline  sort,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  have  evangelism  of  that  kind 
without  bringing  the  Churches  together. 

Our  subject  has  a  very  direct  relation  to 
life.  I  believe  in  right  thinking.  I  believe 
in  doctrine  and  in  the  great  truths  that 
centre  in  the  Cross.  So  do  you.  We  have  a 
well-defined  faith  and  we  are  not  ashamed  of  it. 
The  foundations  upon  which  it  rests  are  sure. 

"  On  Christ  the  soHd  rock  we  stand, 
All  other  ground  is  sinking  sand." 

That  is   our  creed.     But  with  our  feet  on 


A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS    235 

that  platform  we  are  bound  to  say,  in  fidelity 
to  the  lessons  of  this  hour,  that  unspeakable 
harm  has  been  done  in  the  Church  and  by 
the  Church  by  an  over-emphasis  of  orthodoxy 
and  an  under-emphasis  of  life ;  by  laying 
the  stress  upon  the  soundness  of  a  man's 
creed  rather  than  upon  the  nobleness  of 
his  character.  To  be  theologically  straight 
and  correct  has  been  too  often  accounted 
of  greater  value  than  to  be  morally  pure 
and  upright.  The  man  who  has  subscribed 
to  certain  human  statements  of  truth,  no 
matter  how  cold,  no  matter  though  he  carried 
December  in  his  heart  all  the  year  round, 
stiif,  unsympathetic,  chilling,  and  cutting 
like  a  wind  out  of  the  north,  has  been 
kept  in  the  Church  and  clothed  with 
ecclesiastical  honours  ;  while  the  sunny  man 
whose  presence  was  summer,  whose  heart 
overflowed  with  goodness  and  love,  whose 
hands  scattered  blessings  wherever  he  went, 
has  been  read  out  because  he  was  considered 
heretical  on  certain  points  of  doctrine. 
Instances  of  what  I  am  now  saying  will 
readily  occur  to  you,  for  I  am  not  speaking 
of  something  that  took  place  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  but  of  something  that  is  still  too  much 
in  evidence. 

Now,  I   submit  that   the   spirit   of  a  man 


236    A  RIGHT  PUTTING  OF  EMPHASIS 

should  be  considered,  and  if  that  is  good, 
if  it  is  unselfish  and  Christlike,  it  should 
outweigh  everything  else,  and  the  emphasis 
should  be  put  there.  Practice  before  pro- 
fession, service  before  subscription,  doing 
Christian  deeds,  manifesting  a  Christian 
temper,  living  the  Christian  life  rather  than 
wearing  the  Christian  livery,  the  Kingship 
of  God  in  the  soul,  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  our  plans  and  purposes  and  programmes — 
in  one  word,  first  things  first,  then,  and  then 
only,  may  we  expect  the  "  Well  done "  of 
the  Master. 


THE  KINGDOM 


THE  KINGDOM 

**  Thy  kingdom  oome." — Matt.  vi.  10. 

LAST  Sunday  morning  I  spoke  to  you 
upon  the  Church.  This  morning  I 
ask  you  to  think  with  me  for  a  little  while 
about  the  kingdom.  If  the  sermon  should 
prove  uninteresting  the  subject  itself  is  so 
massive,  so  profound,  there  is  in  it  so  much 
of  the  boom  and  swing  of  the  ages  and  of 
the  eternities,  that  it  will  certainly  afford 
the  serious  and  earnest-minded  enough  to 
think  about.  In  our  homes  and  in  our 
Churches  no  sentence  is  more  familiar  or 
more  frequently  on  our  lips  than  "Thy 
kingdom  come."  Perhaps  this  very  fact 
keeps  us  from  reflecting  upon  its  meaning 
as  much  as  we  should.  A  phrase  may  become 
so  common  as  to  lose  all  its  significance. 
By  frequent  repetition  the  sense  gets  beaten 
out  of  it  and  only  sound  is  left.  For  this 
reason  it  is  not  easy  to  deal  with  such  a 
theme  as  I  have  chosen  for  this  hour.     There 

239 


240  THE  KINGDOM 

is  no  freshness,  no  novelty,  nothing  to  arouse 
and  startle.  Nevertheless  I  make  the 
venture ;  and  in  doing  so  I  shall  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  I  am  following 
a  most  illustrious  example,  for  Jesus  was 
constantly  talking  about  the  kingdom  and 
setting  it  forth  in  parables  that  will  never  die. 
I.  First  of  all  let  us  inquire  what  this 
kingdom  is  for  whose  coming  we  are  taught 
to  pray.  We  believe  that  in  nature,  that 
in  the  whole  universe  of  matter,  through  all 
creation's  wide  domain,  the  kingdom  of  God 
has  come.  Every  mote,  every  insect,  every 
river,  every  planet,  all  that  belongs  to  the 
physical  in  this  and  every  other  world,  is 
under  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah.  The 
whole  cosmos  yields  to  His  sceptre.  Not  a 
star,  not  an  ocean,  not  a  movement  of  the 
tides,  not  a  life  however  great  or  small, 
can  get  away  from  the  power  of  His  throne. 
It  is  this  and  this  only  that  makes  the 
universe  safe  and  orderly.  In  like  manner 
all  the  unfoldings  of  history,  all  movements 
of  nations  and  of  society  are  subject  to  His 
rule,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  always.  Nothing 
happens.  Chance  is  the  emptiest  word  in 
human  speech.  Whatever  comes  to  pass 
in  the  Orient,  whether  there  is  to  be  war 
or  peace,  whether  there  is  to  be  a  tremendous 


THE   KINGDOM  241 

upheaval,  or  things  are  to  continue  as  they 
are,  one  thing  is  certain,  God's  hand  will 
be  in  it  all  and  over  it  all.  The  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigneth.  In  creation  and 
providence  His  kingdom  is  as  much  here 
as  it  ever  can  be,  so  that  to  pray  for  its 
coming  would  be  superfluous. 

Our  text  has  to  do  with  another  realm 
altogether.  It  refers  to  the  kingdom  of 
Grace,  and  that  has  to  do  with  conduct,  with 
the  subordination  of  human  wills  to  the 
Divine  will,  with  the  glad  acceptance  of  the 
rulership  of  Christ  over  individual  lives.  It 
is  a  spiritual  kingdom,  of  which  the  Son  of 
God  is  King.  This  kingdom  is  not  yet  come, 
but  it  is  coming.  It  is  gradually  pervading 
and  interi^enetrating  all  other  kingdoms  ;  and 
the  grandest  hour  in  the  history  of  the  uni- 
verse will  be  the  hour  when  it  has  fully  come 
and  its  triumphs  are  complete.  Eternity  will 
be  spent  in  celebrating  it  and  praising  God 
for  it.  At  this  consummation  of  the  ages, 
when  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall 
become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  His 
Christ  and  He  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever, 
all  heaven  will  break  forth  into  song.  If  you 
and  I  are  there  to  participate  in  the  glorious 
jubilee  the  one  thing  that  will  inspire  our 
gladness  will  be  the  recollection  that  we  had 

17 


242  THE  KINGDOM 

something  to  do  with  extending  the  sway  of 
Christ's  empire.  Our  material  victories,  our 
successes  in  the  world  of  trade,  our  financial 
accumulations,  our  worldly  ambitions  and 
triumphs  will  cut  no  figure  there.  All  our 
recognition,  all  our  satisfaction,  all  our  joy 
will  come  from  the  fact  that  we  did  some- 
thing to  hasten  the  coming  of  the  kingdom. 
When  we  pray  "  Thy  kingdom  come  "  we  are 
asking  Jesus  Christ  to  rule  us,  to  rule  society, 
to  rule  business,  to  rule  everywhere. 

II.  Now  let  us  consider  what  that  would 
mean.  Extend  the  reign  of  Christ  to  China 
and  Japan  and  India  and  Africa,  make  Him 
King  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the 
sun,  and  every  pagan  idol  would  come  down, 
every  degrading  superstition  would  die,  all 
caste,  all  cruel  class  distinctions,  all  wars,  all 
tyrannies  and  oppressions,  all  brooding,  blight- 
ing iniquities  would  fade  away.  Extend  the 
reign  of  Christ  into  the  industrial  world,  and 
the  conflict  between  capital  and  labour  would 
cease.  The  reason  why  the  gulf  widens  and 
the  antagonism  becomes  more  and  more 
pronounced  every  year  is  because  on  both 
sides  of  the  controversy  selfishness  sits  en- 
throned. Here  Greed  is  king,  there  Pride, 
both  of  them  children  of  the  devil ;  and  there 
will  be  no  peace  between  them ;  strikes  and 


THE    KINGDOM  243 

upheavals    and    outbreaks   will    go    on    until 
both  abdicate  and  Jesus  is  crowned  instead. 

Nothing  has  done  more  harm  in  human 
society,  nothing  is  doing  more  mischief  to-day, 
than  the  baleful  doctrine  of  human  rights. 
The  whole  tendency  of  it  is  to  socialism, 
anarchism,  pandemonium,  and  the  bottomless 
pit,  and  that  for  the  reason  that  it  is  funda- 
mentally selfish.  "  Our  rights  ! "  cried  the 
frenzied  populace  of  France  a  hundred  and 
ten  years  ago,  and  the  monarchy  was  over- 
thrown, religion  was  turned  out,  harlotry 
was  exalted,  abominations  of  all  sorts  ran 
riot,  chaos  swept  up  and  down  the  streets 
of  her  cities,  the  guillotine  chopped  off  heads, 
and  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution 
staggered  the  world. 

"Our  rights"  is  the  plea  of  the  liquor 
traffic  as  it  goes  on  with  its  work  of  death  ; 
of  capitalism  as  it  crushes  small  dealers 
under  its  merciless  wheels  and  pushes  the 
working  man  down  and  down  into  hopeless 
poverty ;  of  the  labour  organisation  as  it 
closes  the  doors  of  opportunity  against  the 
non-union  man  and  cruelly  drives  him  and 
his  family  to  starvation.  "  Our  rights  "  is  the 
slogan  of  all  wars,  the  plea  of  all  grinding 
competitions,  the  cry  of  all  unholy  rivalries 
and  conflicts  among  men.     Behind  it  people 


244  THE   KINGDOM 

excuse  their  crimes  and  their  indifference. 
They  say,  "  Haven't  we  a  right  to  go  to  church 
or  stay  at  home  ?  Haven't  we  a  right  to  vote 
or  refrain  from  voting,  to  drink  or  abstain, 
to  turn  the  Sabbath  into  a  day  of  pleasuring 
or  of  piety,  to  endorse  or  condemn,  to  sell  or 
not  to  sell  just  as  we  please  ?  " 

That  is  the  spirit  that  causes  all  our  trouble. 
It  stands  at  the  opposite  pole  from  all  that  is 
taught  in  the  Word  of  God.  The  word 
"  rights  "  is  nowhere  to  be  found  in  the  Bible. 
In  its  essence  it  is  atheistic.  The  doctrine 
that  goes  booming  through  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, the  doctrine  that  develops  the  heroes 
and  reformers  of  the  inspired  book,  the 
doctrine  that  binds  all  noble  hearts  and  lives 
to  the  throne  of  Christ,  is  the  sublime  doctrine 
of  human  duties.  "  I  am  debtor  "  is  the  verbal 
form  it  takes.  It  looks  out  and  not  in,  away 
from  the  egoistic  to  the  altruistic,  and  con- 
siders what  it  can  do  for  others.  "I  am 
debtor."  That  is  the  creed  that  makes  Pauls 
and  Savonarolas  and  Judsons  and  Living- 
stones, that  gives  to  the  world  your  Lord 
Shaftesburys  and  Florence  Nightingales  and 
Maud  Ballington  Booths.  It  is  the  salt  of 
society,  the  one  thing  that  saves  it  from, 
putrescence  and  decay.  "Whosoever  will  be 
great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister ; 


THE   KINGDOM  245 

and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let 

him  be   your   servant ;    even   as   the   Son   of 

Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 

minister,  and  to  give  Himself  a  ransom  for 

many."     So   Jesus   puts   it,  and  you  find  no 

suggestion    of    rights    there.      Duty,    service, 

doing   something   for  other   people — all   that 

is  opposed  to  selfishness,  that  is  the  teaching 

of    Christianity,    and    that    sort    of    conduct 

always  shows  itself  where  Christ  is  made  King. 

All  this  and  much  more  is  what  the  coming 

of  the  kingdom  would  mean,  because  its  law 

is   duty  and   its   principle   is   love.     When   it 

comes   in   its   fulness   it   will   be   a   universal 

brotherhood   all   owning    the   sway   of    King 

Jesus.     The  appeal  of  this  kingdom  is  not  to 

the  rights  of  the  weak,  but  to  the  Christian 

manhood  and  love  of  the  strong.     It  makes 

no  plea  on  the  basis  of  equality,  for  there  is 

no  such  thing  among  men.     Assertions  that 

all   men  are  equal,  the  same  in  weight  and 

worth    and    quality,   are    mere    rhetoric   and 

bunkum,    no    matter    in    what    dignified    or 

venerated  document  they  ax^pear.    In  thought 

capacity,  in  moral  capacity,  in  possibilities  of 

development    the    differences    are    immense. 

Brothers    in    the    human    family   are    never 

equal,  never  will  or  can  be,  but  if  they  are 

brothers     they     will     sympathise     with     one 


246  THE   KINGDOM 

another  and  love  one  another  and  help  one 
another.  Behind  all  earthly  conditions  and 
accidents  they  will  recognise  their  essential 
and  eternal  brotherhood  and  act  as  brothers 
must.  No  ignorance,  no  vice,  no  class,  no 
colour  will  stand  a  man  off  at  arm's  length, 
or  push  him  to  the  wall,  or  exclude  him  from 
our  loving  interest  and  our  tender  compas- 
sion if  he  is  our  brother.  The  coming  of  the 
kingdom  means  that  in  all  social  relations 
the  welfare  of  one  is  the  welfare  of  all,  the 
anguish  of  one  the  sorrow  of  all.  And  this 
condition  of  things  will  be  reached  when  men 
everywhere  submit  to  the  loving  reign  of 
Christ  and  devote  themselves  to  the  perform- 
ance of  duties  instead  of  the  vindication  of 
rights.  Then  the  strong  will  bear  the  burden 
of  the  weak,  the  wise  will  think  for  the 
unwise,  and  men  will  find  their  happiness 
where  God  finds  it  and  heaven  finds  it,  in  the 
service  of  others. 

III.  Here,  perhaps,  it  may  be  well  to  note 
a  little  more  particularly  the  location  of  this 
kingdom  for  whose  coming  we  are  taught  to 
pray.  Just  where  is  its  sway  to  be  exercised  ? 
There  are  people  who  imagine  that  these 
conditions  at  which  I  have  hinted  can  only 
be  realised  in  heaven.  The  ideal  seems  to 
them  altogether  too  high  for  this  world.     But 


THE  KINGDOM  247 

here  is  the  petition  :  "  Thy  will  be  done  in 
earth  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven."  Earth  is 
the  place  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom, 
earth  is  the  sphere  where  God's  programme 
is  to  be  carried  out,  right  here  and  now,  in 
our  trade,  in  our  banks,  in  our  schools,  in 
our  politics,  in  our  mines,  and  in  all  the 
activities  of  this  present  world. 

Perhaps  no  greater  delusion  ever  took 
possession  of  the  human  mind  than  the 
thought  that  doing  the  will  of  God  is  a 
standard  unattainable  by  men  in  this  strenu- 
ous life  of  ours.  Even  Christian  people  find 
it  necessary  to  explain  away  much  of  the 
plain  teaching  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  of  the  Gospel  in  general.  Back  in  the 
early  centuries  it  was  assumed  that  the  reign 
of  Christ  in  the  individual  life  was  possible 
only  in  a  monastery  ;  and  when  it  was  found 
that  there  were  too  many  temptations  there 
resort  was  had  to  the  loneliness  of  the 
hermit's  cell.* 

Then  the  reformers  came,  and,  seeing  that 
the  ideal  Christian  life  could  not  be  lived  in 
cells  and  monasteries  and  nunneries,  they 
swung  to  the  other  extreme  and  concluded 
that  the  will  of  God  could  only  be  done 
beyond  the  stars.     Catholicism  said  :  "  If  you 

*  See  "  Ethical  Christianity,"  by  Bev.  Hugh  Price 
Hughes,  A.M.,  pp.  23-27. 


248  THE  KINGDOM 

want  to  be  perfect  go  to  the  cloister."  Pro- 
testantism said  :  "  If  you  want  to  be  perfect 
you  must  wait  till  you  get  to  Paradise.' 
Thus  both  alike  taught  practically  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  too  Divine,  too  ethereal, 
too  far  beyond  the  reach  of  men  ever  to 
come  on  this  planet.  The  full  fruitage  of 
Christianity  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
ordinary  relations  of  our  present  social  life  ; 
for  that  we  must  wait  until  we  pass  on  to 
Canaan.  And  yet,  strangely  enough,  all 
through  the  centuries  both  Catholics  and 
Protestants  alike  have  been  praying :  "  Thy 
kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth 
even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven." 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  our  Lord's  prayer 
makes  no  request  whatever  about  heaven. 
In  it  He  taught  His  discij)les,  and  He  teaches 
us  to  concentrate  all  our  thoughts  and  all  our 
desires  and  all  our  requests  upon  the  duties 
and  privileges  of  this  present  life,  and  upon 
the  necessity  of  doing  the  will  of  our  Father, 
here  and  now.  And  if  you  will  turn  to  the 
book  of  Revelation  and  read  the  last'  two 
chapters  carefully,  in  which  the  City  of  God 
is  described,  you  will  find  that  it  is  located, 
not  in  the  celestial  regions,  but  on  the  earth. 
John  is  setting  forth,  not  something  that  will 
take  place  on  the  other  side  of  the  last  river, 
but  something   that  will   be   realised  in  this 


THE   KINGDOM  249 

present  world — what  Denver  will  be,  and 
Chicago,  and  New  York,  and  every  other  city 
will  be,  when  their  citizens  acknowledge  the 
kingship  of  Jesus  and  enthrone  Him  in  their 
lives.  "And  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  new 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven.  .  .  .  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of 
heaven,  saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God 
is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself 
shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And 
God  shall  wii)e  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes  ; 
and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain :  for  the  former  things  are  passed 
away."  The  whole  entrancing  picture  belongs 
to  earth  and  not  to  heaven. 

But  we  have  a  very  comfortable  way  of 
toning  down  the  Scriptures,  and  excusing 
ourselves,  and  postponing  the  lives  we  ought 
to  be  living  now  to  some  future  state.  It  is 
wrong,  and  God  will  not  hold  us  guiltless. 
"  Thy  kingdom  come."  That  is  for  to-day, 
for  the  prosy  life  we  now  live  in  the  flesh, 
for  the  individual,  for  society,  for  the  world. 
It  is,  therefore,  supremely  practical.  Men 
sometimes  go  away  from  church  complaining 
that  there  was  nothing  in  the  sermon  that 
touched  their  lives.  It  seemed  to  them  to 
deal  with  things  remote — things  beyond  the 


250  THE   KINGDOM 

range  of  human  experience.  But  that  com- 
plaint will  not  hold  this  morning.  "  Thy 
kingdom  come."  Do  you  mean  it  ?  Are  you 
really  anxious  that  Christ  should  rule  you 
and  shape  your  conduct  and  subdue  you  unto 
Himself  ?  If  so,  you  will  put  away  dishonesty 
covetousness,  pride,  indolence,  and  all  the 
devil's  brood  of  sin.  If  so,  you  will  put  away 
lying,  and  deceitfulness,  and  hypocrisy,  and 
malice,  and  evil-speaking.  If  so,  you  will  put 
away  indifference  to  the  Cross,  disregard  for 
prayer,  and  all  unconcern  about  the  kingdom's 
interests  at  home  and  abroad. 

Practical !  I  should  say  so.  If  you  meant 
it  this  morning  when  you  prayed  "  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  it  would  affect  you,  and 
transform  you  to  the  very  roots  of  your  life. 
The  family  altar  would  go  up  again.  Religion 
would  be  the  dominating  thing  in  you.  The 
enterprises  of  the  Church  would  enlist  your 
thought  and  sympathy  and  co-operation  as  no 
others  under  the  sun.  Missions  would  cease 
to  be  a  bore,  and  you  would  say,  "  How  glad 
I  am  to  hear  that  pagans  in  all  the  dark 
corners  of  the  earth  are  bringing  their  crowns 
and  putting  them  on  the  brow  of  my  Jesus, 
and  missionary  literature  would  have  a  place 
on  every  one  of  our  tables  and  be  eagerly 
read.  You  would  really  be  in  love  with  Him, 
and  all  sham  devotion,  and  all  formal  service, 


THE  KINGDOM  251 

and  all  make-believe  worship  would  give  place 
to  warmth,  and  sincerity,  and  earnestness. 

If  we  meant  it  when  we  pray  "  Thy  king- 
dom come,"  it  would  no  longer  be  necessary 
to  jplead  with  our  people  to  attend  meetings, 
to  keep  the  Cross  in  the  front,  to  give  Chris- 
tianity the  inside  track,  to  make  first  things 
first,  and  relegate  all  parties,  and  dinners, 
and  feastings,  and  gods  of  the  flesh  to  the 
rear.  Such  talk  would  be  superfluous,  a 
waste  of  breath,  if  Jesus  were  King.  With 
Him  on  the  throne  of  our  hearts  spiritual 
things  would  be  a  passion  with  us,  a  delight 
so  absorbing  that  we  should  have  no  taste, 
no  desire  for  anything  else.  If  we  meant  it 
when  we  say  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  every 
one  of  us  would  be  a  missionary,  the  whole 
Church  would  be  ablaze  with  evangelism,  and 
we  would  never  rest  until  the  King's  sway 
was  acknowledged  from  pole  to  pole. 

Our  subject,  therefore,  is  so  practical  that 
it  bears  in  every  direction.  It  touches  the 
State  as  well  as  the  individual.  If  we  ask 
why  divorces  multiply,  why  the  home  is 
imperilled,  why  Mormonism  is  permitted  to 
cast  its  filthy  shadow  across  the  United  States 
Senate,  why  crimes  increase,  why  public  edu- 
cation is  becoming  secularised ;  if  we  ask  why 
all  this  social  upheaval,  all  this  labour  dis- 
turbance, all  this  muttering  of  subterranean 


252  THE  KINGDOM 

forces,  all  this  antagonism  of  class  to  class, 
which  may  end  in  a  grapple  that  will  shake 
society  to  its  foundations ;  if  we  ask  why 
there  is  such  a  tremendous  disparity  between 
the  machinery  and  organisation  and  expendi- 
tures of  the  Church  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
results  achieved  on  the  other,  I  answer,  the 
explanation  of  it  all  is  found  in  a  lack  of  alle- 
giance to  the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords. 
In  the  name,  therefore,  of  all  our  dearest 
interests  for  time  and  eternity ;  in  the  name 
of  our  homes  and  of  our  cities ;  in  the  name 
of  our  children  and  of  their  inheritance  of  all 
the  good  things  of  a  civilisation  irradiated  by 
Christianity;  in  the  name  of  the  Christian 
Church,  which  means  so  much  for  mankind ; 
in  the  name  of  our  own  immortal  souls  and 
their  salvation  ;  in  the  name  of  Calvary  and  of 
Him  who  died  there — I  charge  you,  and  I 
charge  my  countrymen  of  all  classes  and 
callings  and  conditions,  doing  homage  to 
wealth,  doing  homage  to  power,  doing  homage 
to  the  gods  of  this  world — I  charge  them  to 
remember  that  there  is  another  King,  one 
Jesus,  and  that  the  glory  of  the  Church  and 
the  safety  of  society  and  the  stability  of  the 
State  can  only  be  secured  by  loyalty  to  Him, 
by  obedience  to  His  law,  and  by  the  coming  of 
His  kingdom. 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 


A  DAY   OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

MISSIONARY  SERMON. 

"  Then  they  said  one  to  another,  We  do  not  well :  this 
day  is  a  day  of  good  tidings,  and  we  hold  our  peace  :  if  we 
tarry  till  the  morning  light,  some  mischief  will  come  upon 
us:  now  therefore  come,  that  we  may  go  and  tell  the 
king's  household." — 2  Kings  vii.  9. 

THE  city  of  Samaria  was  besieged  by  the 
great  army  of  Sennacherib.  The  be- 
leaguered inhabitants  were  starving.  Hungry- 
eyed  famine  walked  up  and  down  the  streets. 
To  such  straits  were  the  people  driven  that 
an  ass's  head  was  sold  for  fourscore  pieces  of 
silver,  and  they  were  compelled  to  feed  on 
refuse  and  garbage.  But  one  night,  when 
they  were  in  this  dreadful  plight,  the  besieg- 
ing army  suddenly  withdrew. 

Just  outside  of  the  city  gates  were  four 
lepers  who  were  ignorant  of  what  had  taken 
place,  and,  in  sheer  desperation,  they  resolved 
to  visit  the  camp  of  the  besieging  army.  They 
reasoned  in  this  way,  "  Why  sit  we  here  until 

255 


256        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

we  die  ?  If  we  say,  We  will  enter  into  the  city, 
then  the  famine  is  in  the  city,  and  we  shall 
die  there  :  and  if  we  sit  still  here,  we  die  also. 
Now  therefore  come  ;  let  us  fall  unto  the  host 
of  the  Syrians  :  if  they  save  us  alive,  we  shall 
live ;  and  if  they  kill  us,  we  shall  but  die." 
So  in  the  early  morning  twilight  they  stole 
out  to  the  camp  of  the  Syrians,  and  to  their 
astonishment  they  found  that  the  invading 
host  had  fled  in  a  panic,  leaving  countless 
stores  of  all  kinds  behind.  The  starving 
lepers  fell  to  feasting  upon  the  good  things, 
eating  and  drinking  with  infinite  relish. 
When  their  hunger  was  appeased,  they  began 
to  loot  the  forsaken  tents  and  to  gather  the 
silver  and  gold  that  had  been  left.  They  fairly 
revelled  in  the  spoils.  But  after  awhile 
conscience  began  to  ux3braid  them.  In  their 
plenty  and  fulness  they  had  forgotten  the 
starving,  perishing  population  of  the  city ; 
and  now  at  last,  bethinking  themselves, 
"  They  said  one  to  another,  We  do  not  well : 
this  is  a  day  of  good  tidings,  and  we  hold  our 
peace :  if  we  tarry  till  the  morning  light, 
some  mischief  will  come  upon  us ;  now 
therefore  come,  that  we  may  go  and  tell  the 
king's  household." 

One  doesn't  need  to  be  much  of  a  preacher 
to   turn   such    a    story    as    this    to   practical 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        257 

account;  it  speaks  for  itself.  May  not  the 
Christian  people  of  this  favoured  land  and  of 
this  congregation  say — 

I.  This  is  a  day  of  good  things  ?  For  us  the 
beleaguering  armies  of  superstition  and  igno- 
rance and  moral  blindness  are  gone.  They  no 
longer  compass  us  about,  and  keep  our  higher 
nature  in  hunger  and  famine  And  despair. 
Thanks  to  our  conquering  Christ  and  His 
faithful  servants,  they  have  been  put  to  rout. 
We  live  in  the  light,  and  enjoy  privileges  of 
education,  privileges  of  spiritual  improvement, 
privileges  of  character,  nurture,  and  culture, 
such  as  were  vouchsafed  to  no  former  gene- 
ration and  to  no  other  people.  For  us  the  feast 
and  the  banqueting-table  and  unlimited  abund- 
ance. For  us  soul  wealth  now,  and  blessed- 
ness now,  and  rapturous  communings  now, 
and  many  an  inspiring  look  into  the  unseen  ; 
and  for  us  hope,  for  us  a  great  world  of 
anticipated  delights  along  the  pathway  of 
the  future.  For  us  participation  in  the  love 
of  God  and  the  service  of  God,  and  in  the 
rewards  of  noble  work  nobly  done.  For  us 
the  companionship  of  Jesus  and  the  sweet 
faith  and  the  gracious  promises  and  the  never- 
failing  sympathy  and  help  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Then  on  the  lower  side,  on  the  material  side, 
how  richly  we  are  provided  for !     For  us  how 

18 


258        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS         i 

sumptuous  have  been  our  Christinas  feastings 
— backs  elegantly  apparelled,  tables  laden 
with  toothsome  viands  of  all  sorts,  homes 
comfortably  and,  in  many  cases,  luxuriously 
appointed,  and  gifts  innumerable  to  make  us 
happy.  Surely  it  is  a  day  of  good  things. 
The  text  certainly  gives  us  a  very  accurate 
description  of  the  times  in  which  we  live. 

II.  But  let  us  not  overlook  the  reproof  of 
indifference  which  it  contains.  "  We  do  not 
well :  this  is  a  day  of  good  tidings,  and  we 
hold  our  peace."  The  world  is  full  of  the 
spiritually  destitute.  Hundreds  of  millions 
have  never  heard  of  the  wonderful  provisions 
of  the  Gospel  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  all 
our  light  and  all  our  abundance  to-day.  We 
are  told  that  one  commendable  trait  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  his  love  of  fair  play,  and  as 
those  who  like  to  be  classed  under  this  head, 
let  us  ask.  Is  it  fair  to  hold  our  peace  ?  Is  it 
fair  to  keep  our  Gospel  and  our  Gospel  blessings 
to  ourselves  ?  Is  it  fair  for  the  people  in  this 
splendid  Christian  ship,  which  rides  the  waves 
and  overcomes  the  storms,  because  God  in  His 
mercy  has  given  it  the  true  chart  of  the  sea, 
and  put  the  great  Pilot  on  board,  to  let  the 
people  in  that  other  heathen  ship  perish  on 
the  rocks  without  even  sending  them  a  life- 
boat or  doing  anything  for  their  rescue? 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        259 

Indifference,  inhumanity  of  that  sort  is 
enough  to  stir  the  blood  of  every  great- 
souled  man  who  knows  anything  of  our 
history.  If  you  have  ever  read  back  along 
the  line  of  your  own  pedigree,  you  are  aware 
to-day  that  your  ancestors  were  steeped  in 
paganism.  They  believed  in  human  sacrifices. 
Some  of  them,  no  doubt,  smacked  their  lips 
over  a  meal  of  human  flesh.  When  they 
wanted  to  know  what  would  be  the  issue 
of  a  battle  there  in  the  forests  of  Britain 
and  Germany,  they  would  take  fair  young 
girls,  XDut  them  in  crates  made  of  small  twigs, 
then  stand  off  and  shoot  arrows  into  them, 
and  according  as  the  blood  flowed  this  way  or 
that  way  they  judged  that  the  fight  would  be 
propitious  or  unpropitious.  In  their  great  oak 
groves  they  performed  rites  and  indulged  in 
cruelties  that  are  awful  to  think  of — those 
forefathers  of  yours  and  mine. 

And  who  was  it  that  opened  their  eyes  and 
taught  them  better  ?  Who  was  it  but  Augus- 
tine, and  Paulinus,  and  Patrick,  and  Colomba 
— humble,  fearless,  self-sacrificing  foreign  mis- 
sionaries ?  Who  has  not  read  in  his  History  of 
England  about  what  took  place  in  a  certain 
banqueting-hall  ?  A  great  company  of  nobles 
had  assembled,  and  a  stranger  sent  in  word 
that  he   would  like   to  speak  to   them.     His 


260        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

name  was  Paulinus,  or  little  Paul,  and  they 
asked,  "  Shall  he  speak  ?  "  Then  an  old  man 
rose  and  said,  "What  is  this  life  we  are 
living?  Where  did  we  come  from?  Where 
are  we  going?  We  do  not  know.  It  is  as 
though  a  sparrow  should  fly  into  this  hall  out 
of  the  night  and  the  cold,  circle  around  for  a 
moment,  and  fly  out  again.  That  is  our  life ; 
we  do  not  know  where  we  came  from.  We 
stay  here  for  a  little  while,  and  then  out  into 
the  dark  we  go.  If  this  stranger  can  tell  us 
anything  let  him  be  heard."  So  Paulinus,  the 
missionary,  was  admitted,  and  told  them  about 
Christ  and  about  the  meaning  He  put  into 
life,  and  how  He  dispelled  the  shadows  that 
gathered  about  it,  and  many  of  them  were 
converted. 

Or  who  has  not  read  of  that  noble  deed  that 
was  done  in  the  forests  of  Western  Germany 
far  away  yonder  in  the  early  centuries  ?  There 
was  a  giant  oak,  dedicated  to  Thor,  the  god  of 
thunder,  and  around  it  the  wild  barbarians 
used  to  gather  to  engage  in  their  rude  and 
superstitious  and  degrading  rites.  But  one 
day  Boniface,  full  of  the  zeal  of  the  Cross, 
appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  with  his  axe 
began  to  cut  down  the  sacred  tree.  The 
pagan  multitudes  were  amazed  at  his  bold- 
ness and  courage.     The  fact  that  Thor  did 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        261 

not  strike  him  dead  they  took  as  a  sign 
that  he  was  right  and  they  were  wrong,  and 
so  they  turned  to  the  living  and  true  God. 

That  is  where  our  Christianity  came  from 
— from  the  heroic  work  of  Augustine  and 
Paulinus  in  England,  of  Colomba  in  Scotland, 
of  Patrick  in  Ireland,  and  of  Boniface  in 
Germany.  The  converts  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries were  our  ancestors,  and  a  spirit  of 
fairness  means  that  I  must  do  for  others  as 
men  once  did  for  me.  The  starving  people  of 
Samaria  had  just  as  holy  a  claim  upon  the 
stores  of  food  left  by  Sennacherib's  fleeing 
army  as  the  four  lepers  had  ;  and  before  God 
the  soul-famishing  millions  of  Africa  and  Asia 
and  the  islands  of  the  sea  have  a  right  to  the 
Gospel  and  to  all  that  is  best  in  life  quite  as 
sacred  as  our  own.  All  that  Jesus  Christ  has 
been  to  us  and  to  our  country  and  to  our  fore- 
fathers He  can  be  to  every  other  country,  and 
to  the  benighted  sons  of  men  everywhere.  As 
He  lifted  us  out  of  degradation  and  moral 
blindness  back  yonder  in  our  pagan  pro- 
genitors, so  He  can  lift  all  other  degraded 
men.  The  remedy  which  proved  so  efficacious 
for  the  Anglo-Saxon  will  prove  equally  effica- 
cious for  Mongolian  and  Hottentot  and  Malay, 
and  if  we  are  not  willing  and  glad  to  send  that 
remedy,  let  us  not  talk  about  being  followers 
of  Jesus. 


262        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

If  I  have  in  my  home  a  specific  that  has 
saved  my  children  from  the  plague,  what  kind 
of  a  man  am  I  if  I  withhold  it  from  my  neigh- 
bour's children  in  the  valley  of  the  Congo  or 
the  Nile  or  the  Yukon,  who  are  dying  of  the 
same  disease  ?  What  saved  my  children  will 
save  his,  and  yet  I  hold  my  peace.  Is  that  the 
fairness  of  brotherly  love  ?  But  perhaps  you 
are  saying,  "  My  neighbour  is  the  man  across 
the  street,  or  the  man  in  the  lower  part  of  my 
own  city."  Not  necessarily.  You  have  read 
the  Gospel  very  superficially  if  that  is  your 
conclusion.  In  the  parable  of  the  Good 
Samaritan  Jesus  taught  that  your  nearest 
neighbour  is  your  neediest  neighbour,  though 
he  live  by  the  shores  of  the  Yellow  Sea.  No 
doubt  there  are  needy  people  at  home,  but 
every  well-informed  person  knows  that  the 
needs  in  China,  and  in  Judea,  and  in  South 
America  are  beyond  comparison  greater  than 
even  in  the  slummiest  and  most  God-forsaken 
parts  of  our  own  land. 

I  do  not  believe  in  the  socialistic  theory  of 
division.  I  do  not  believe  in  a  connnunity  of 
goods.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  principle 
of  sharing  along  material  lines.  In  all  such 
matters  I  believe  that  they  should  have  who 
earn.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  Gospel,  woe 
be  to  us  if  we   do   not  divide.     What  Jesus 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        263 

Christ  divided  with  me,  I  am  bound  to  divide 
with  every  other  man.     If  He  has  given  me 
salvation,  I  am  under  the  most  solemn  obliga- 
tion to  pass  that  salvation  on.     If  I  love  Jesus 
Christ,  if  my  heart  beats  in  loyalty  to  Him, 
His  horizon  will  be  my  horizon.  His  thought 
my  thought.  His  programme  my  programme. 
And   what  is    His   horizon  ?     "  All    nations." 
What,  is   His    thought?     Love   for   all   men. 
What  is  His  programme?     "Ye  shall  be  My 
witnesses   unto   the    uttermost   parts   of   the 
earth."    He  didn't  say,  "  Ye  are  the  light  of 
your  own  home,  or  your  own  town,"  but  "  Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world."     He   didn't  say, 
"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  your  own  Church,"  but 
"  Ye  are   the  salt  of  the   earth."     Oh,  if  we 
did  but  enter  into  the  swing  and  sweep  and 
bigness  of  the  thoughts  of  Jesus,  it  would  be 
superfluous  to  preach  on  this  subject ! 

When  you  say  you  believe  in  Jesus,  and  yet 
do  not  believe  in  foreign  missions,  then  I  say 
you  are  putting  two  impossible  things  together. 
They  won't  mix.  The  love  of  Christ  in  the 
heart  will  go  as  far  as  Christ's  love  goes.  The 
boundary  of  this  will  be  the  boundary  of  that. 
Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  Love  and  dis- 
loyalty cannot  walk  the  same  road.  We 
cannot  be  disobedient  and  faithful  at  the 
same  time,  and  when  Jesus  says,  "  Go  ye  into 


264        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature,"  we  cannot  love  Him  and  be  loyal  to 
Him  if  we  refuse.  We  cannot  be  faithful  if 
we  disobey.  Oh,  men  and  women,  if  our  love 
for  Christ  cannot  fly  across  the  ocean  it  cer- 
tainly has  a  broken  wing  ;  if  it  cannot  fly 
beyond  our  OAvn  town,  or  beyond  a  little 
spasmodic  benevolence  under  our  own  win- 
dows, it  has  two  broken  wings,  and  is  a  poor 
crippled,  dirt-scratching,  barnyard  fowl  that 
can  only  do  a  little  picking  and  clucking  for 
its  own  chickens ! 

The  lepers  said,  "  If  we  tarry  till  the 
morning  light,  some  mischief  will  come  upon 
us."  They  felt  that  if  they  held  their  peace 
and  kept  their  stores  of  food  and  treasures 
of  silver  and  gold  to  themselves  some  punish- 
ment would  surely  overtake  them.  The 
feeling  was  true  to  the  inmost  reality  of 
things.  No  man,  no  Church  can  escape  the 
withering,  shrivelling  blight  of  selfishness. 
It  dries  and  dwarfs  and  dwindles.  Let  there 
be  no  outlet  and  you  have  a  Dead  Sea, 
and  where  there  is  no  benevolence  you  have 
a  dead  life  and  a  dead  Church.  No  Church 
ever  remains  in  debt  very  long  that  is 
characterised  by  a  decided  missionary  spirit. 
I  make  that  statement  without  the  slightest 
qualification.       The     Church    roll    of     every 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        265 

Christian  denomination  in  America  will  bear 
it  out.  The  Church  that  will  not  give  to 
others  will  not  give  to  itself. 

There  never  is,  there  never  dan  be  any- 
genuine  enthusiasm  in  a  Church  which  is 
not  altruistic — an  enthusiasm  for  others.  It 
was  this  that  carried  the  Gospel  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Britain  in  the  early  centuries ; 
this  that  produced  the  great  world-shaking 
revivals  whose  waves  of  power  are  still 
rolling  across  the  earth.  It  was  not  men 
in  embroidered  slippers,  or  in  Sunday  morning 
dressing-gowns,  or  men  like  petrified  wood, 
that  will  neither  burn,  nor  melt,  nor  bear 
fruit,  that  won  the  victories  of  the  Cross  in 
the  ages  gone ;  but  men  on  fire  for  the 
extension  of  the  kingdom  and  the  salvation 
of  souls  and  the  glory  of  God.  They  were 
not  men  of  secularised  but  men  of  spiritua- 
lised temper,  with  eyes  to  see  and  hearts 
to  feel  the  needs  of  the  world. 

When  a  country  comes  to  the  point  where 
it  loses  enthusiasm  for  liberty,  when  its 
principles  no  longer  inspire  its  citizens,  and 
they  are  content  to  stock  their  armies  with 
hirelings  and  do  their  fighting  by  mercenaries, 
that  country  is  decadent,  its  liberties  are 
gone,  it  has  nothing  left  worth  dying  for. 
I   wish  we   could   see   that    when   a    Church 


266        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

reaches  a  stage  where  the  missionary  spirit 
is  gone,  she  has  reached  a  stage  when,  by 
her  own  confession,  she  has  nothing  worth 
propagating.  I  wish  we  could  see  that  the 
Church  that  flings  its  beams  farthest  into 
the  night  is  the  Church  that  shines  the 
brightest  around  its  own  doors.  I  wish  we 
could  see  that  the  reflex  influence  of  missions 
is  the  very  salvation  of  the  Church  local 
and  the  Church  universal.  The  most  mis- 
sionary of  all  the  Churches  to-day  is  the 
Moravian,  and  what  is  the  result? — a  per- 
petual revival  at  home. 

"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and,  lo,  I  am 
with  you."  God  is  not  with  us,  because  we 
do  not  go.  Christ  is  not  walking  among 
the  golden  candlesticks,  because  they  are 
canoi)ied  over  and  walled  about  with  selfish- 
ness. Lift  the  canopy,  break  down  the  walls, 
let  the  light  fly  out,  and  Christ  will  be  with  us 
in  mighty  saving  iDower.  But  if  we  tarry  till 
the  morning  light,  if  we  are  indifferent  and 
negligent,  some  mischief  will  come  upon  us. 

IV.  "Now  therefore  come,  that  we  may 
go  and  tell  the  king's  household."  "  Go  and 
tell."  That  suggests  very  clearly  the  line  of 
duty.  "  Go  and  tell."  The  yellow  people  of 
the  Orient  and  the  black  people  of  Africa, 
sitting  in  darkness,  groping  in  shadows  of 
despair,  are    members  of    the    King's    house- 


A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS        267 

hold  as  well  as  ourselves.  But  they  don't 
know  it  and  are  living  in  misery  and  hunger 
and  wretchedness,  like  the  prodigal  in  the 
far  country ;  and  our  Lord  lays  upon  us  the 
solemn  responsibility  and  the  glorious  pri- 
vilege of  making  known  to  them  our  good 
tidings  of  great  joy. 

I  am  glad  a  mother  and  daughter  in  this 
Church  have  their  missionary  substitute  in 
India  whose  salary  they  are  paying.  I  am 
glad  the  Chinese  boys  of  our  Sunday  School 
are  supporting  a  missionary  of  the  Cross  in 
their  fatherland  out  of  their  scanty  earnings. 
But  why  should  not  this  congregation  have 
half  a  dozen  substitutes  telling  the  story  of 
Jesus  in  various  parts  of  the  world?  This 
is  what  all  wide-awake,  aggressive,  Christ- 
filled  Churches  are  doing.  Through  their 
supported  representatives  they  are  preaching 
the  Gospel  in  pagan  lands  twenty-four  hours 
every  day  and  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days  every  year;  and  the  effect  of  it  upon 
their  own  home  Church  life  is  like  that  of 
rain  upon  the  parched  ground. 

I  hope  no  one  will  raise  the  old  thread- 
bare objection  there  are  heathen  enough  at 
home.  That  statement  is  utterly  and  abomi- 
nably untrue.  No  doubt  there  are  depraved 
peojple,  and  vicious  people,  and  great  numbers 
of    spiritually   dead   people    under   the    very 


268        A  DAY  OF  GOOD  TIDINGS 

shadows  of  our  Churches ;  but  they  know 
what  these  Churches  mean  ;  they  know  what 
the  Gospel  means ;  they  know  what  Jesus 
Christ  came  into  the  world  for,  or  if  they  do 
not,  it  is  because  we  Christian  people  have  not 
done  our  duty;  and  for  pity's  sake,  for  de- 
cency's sake,  let  us  not  make  our  neglect  of 
duty  at  home  an  excuse  for  doing  nothing 
abroad. 

But  it  is  useless  to  take  time  replying  to 
objections.  The  essence  of  every  objection 
ever  made  to  this  work  is  lack  of  the  Chris- 
tian spirit,  lack  of  love,  lack  of  loyalty  to 
the  Son  of  God.  But  I  am  persuaded  better 
things  of  you.  I  am  proud  to  believe  that 
I  minister  to  an  open-handed,  big-hearted, 
broad  -  minded  Christian  congregation.  I 
flatter  myself  that  I  preach  to  no  pent-up 
Utica,  but  to  a  Church  as  wide  in  sym- 
pathy as  the  reach  of  human  needs.  Hence 
it  is  that  I  ask  you  for  your  offerings  to 
this  cause  this  morning.  Anybody  can  give 
before  Christmas.  But  to  give  after  Christmas, 
to  give  when  the  purse  has  been  already 
drained,  requires  just  such  stuff  as  I  am 
sure  many  of  you,  and  I  would  fain  believe 
all  of  you,  are  made  of.  Give  a  great 
generous  contribution  to  this  cause  to-day 
and  it  will  be  worth  a  score  of  sermons  on 
the  evidences  of  Christianity. 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS 


FORGIVENESS   AND   THE   CROSS 

"  In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  His  blood,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of  His  grace." — 
Eph.  i.  7. 

THERE  are  people  who  call  sin  by  soft 
names.  Coming  short  of  an  ideal,  a 
defect  of  education,  the  result  of  ignorance, 
missing  the  mark,  and  other  such  euphemisms 
are  applied  to  it.  Mrs.  Eddy  goes  farther 
and  denies  that  it  has  any  reality  whatever. 
She  declares  that  sin  is  unknown  to  truth ; 
that,  like  sickness  and  disease,  it  is  only  an 
illusion,  and  has  no  existence  in  fact.  But 
no  amount  of  word-juggling  and  no  tricks 
of  rhetoric  can  either  rob  the  awful  thing 
of  its  ugliness  or  eliminate  it  from  the 
world.  In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  that  are 
made  to  decorate  it  with  fine  phrases  and 
to  condone  it  and  make  it  seem  almost 
virtuous  ;  in  spite  of  the  attempts  of  certain 
teachers  to  hoodwink  the  judgment  of  men 
and   induce   them  to   take    leave  of  common 

271 


272    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS 

sense,  sin  is  the  most  dreadful,  the  most 
persistent,  the  most  deadly  fact  of  which 
we  have  any  knowledge. 

Look  around  and  see  and  hear  and  judge 
for  yourselves.  Courts  for  ever  busy,  prisons 
for  ever  full,  hearts  for  ever  breaking,  homes 
for  ever  shadowed — what  do  all  these  things 
mean  if  sin  is  not?  The  scandals  and  law- 
suits and  frauds  and  crimes  reported  every 
day  in  every  daily  paper — are  all  these 
things  but  the  out-flowering  of  illusions? 
Alas  for  the  human  gullibility  that  can  be- 
lieve such  absurdities !  Sometimes  we  look 
into  men's  faces  on  the  streets  and  we  see 
the  devil  there,  and  down  into  their  eyes 
and  we  see  the  mud  and  the  treachery 
there.  Sometimes  we  listen  to  their  talk 
and  we  hear  words  laden  with  filth  and 
impurity,  or  perhaps  we  hear  them  gloat 
over  the  ruin  of  some  fresh  young  life,  and 
smack  their  lips  over  it  like  a  hound  that 
has  tasted  blood.  Sometimes  we  learn  of 
things  done  by  men,  intelligent  men,  so  low, 
so  cruel,  so  beastly,  that  we  can  but  blush 
for  our  humanity.  In  the  face  of  all  this 
what  shall  we  say  of  those  who  try  to  con- 
ceal sin's  hideousness  under  smooth  words, 
or  of  those  who  deny  that  there  is  any  sin 
at  all? 


FORGIVENESS  AND   THE  CROSS    273 

But  we  need  not  look  afield.  The  ugly- 
thing  is  in  our  own  lives,  and  so  near  the 
surface  that  it  doesn't  take  much  of  a  scratch 
to  reveal  it.  Why  is  it  that  we  find  a  lurking 
kind  of  comfort  in  the  fact  that  the  best 
people  have  their  weak  points?  Why  is  it 
that  a  pleasant  sort  of  satisfaction  steals 
into  our  souls  when  a  rival's  reputation  is 
assailed?  Why  is  it  that  we  experience  a 
sort  of  contentment  when  a  very  good  man 
is  found  to  be  not  quite  as  good  as  he  was 
rated  to  be  ?  Why  is  it  that  a  real  scandal 
in  high  life  always  finds  so  many  readers 
even  among  Christian  people  ?  The  answer 
to  these  questions  is  not  at  all  flattering.  It 
seems  to  declare  plainly  that  there  is  some- 
thing in  us  that  is  inherently  wrong.  Indeed, 
brethren,  if  we  are  perfectly  frank  with  our- 
selves we  shall  have  to  admit  that,  however 
it  got  there,  there  is  a  considerable  mixture 
of  bad  stuff  in  us. 

Let  us  clear  the  subject  of  all  fog ;  let 
us  be  straight  and  honest  and  candid  and 
confess  that  we  are  sinners.  If  we  know 
anything,  we  know  that  we  have  built  with 
untempered  mortar,  that  we  have  put  un- 
seasoned timber  into  our  lives,  that  we  have 
often  made  use  of  poor  material,  and  that 
the  whole  structure  is  sadly  defective.     There 

19 


274    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS 

is  nothing  of  which  we  are  more  certain 
than  the  fact  of  indwelling  sin.  It  was  no 
debauchee,  no  red-handed  criminal,  but  the 
saintly  and  heavenly-minded  John  who  said, 
"  If  we  say  we  have  no  sin  we  deceive  our- 
selves, and  the  truth  is  not  in  us."  It  was 
no  wretched  prodigal,  with  life  all  shattered 
and  wrecked  and  wasted,  but  the  devoted 
and  unselfish  Paul  who  said,  "  This  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tion, that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners,  of  2vhom  I  am  chief."  We 
are  not  better  than  Paul  and  John.  In  the 
category  of  the  sinning  every  one  of  us  must 
take  his  place. 

Now,  the  Bible  teaches  everywhere,  both 
directly  and  by  implication,  that  sin  must  be 
punished.  With  scientific  precision  it  de- 
clares that  "whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that 
shall  he  also  reap,"  that  men  "  shall  eat  of 
the  fruit  of  their  own  way  and  be  filled  with 
their  own  devices."  Its  pages  abound  in  con- 
crete illustrations  of  the  fact  that  sin  cannot 
be  committed  with  impunity.  Let  it  suffice 
to  recall  the  examples  of  Moses  and  Saul 
and  David  and  Peter. 

Nature  teaches  the  same  lesson.  No  law 
of  mind  or  of  body  can  be  transgressed 
without  penalty.     On   every  side   of   us,  and 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS     275 

in  everything  we  do,  we  run  up  against  laws 
which  must  be  obeyed,  or  we  must  suffer 
the  consequences.  Violate  the  law  of  elec- 
tricity and  the  mysterious  power  will  strike ; 
the  law  of  fire,  and  you  will  be  burned ;  the 
law  of  wind  and  tide,  and  you  will  go  upon 
the  rocks  ;  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  you 
will  be  hurled  into  the  abyss.  Thus  the  book 
of  Nature,  like  the  Word  of  God,  declares 
that  every  transgression  and  every  dis- 
obedience must  receive  a  just  recompense 
of  reward. 

Scepticism  speaks  to  precisely  the  same 
effect.  Deny  whatever  else  it  may,  it  is  clear 
on  this  point,  that  sin  must  be  punished. 
George  Eliot  taught  that  "  the  world  would 
be  indefinitely  better  and  happier  if  men 
could  be  made  to  feel  that  there  is  no  escape 
from  the  inexorable  law  that  we  reap  what 
we  have  sown." 

Now,  in  the  face  of  this  very  positive 
teaching  that  comes  to  us  from  these  three 
sources,  and  which  is  so  abundantly  rein- 
forced by  our  own  observation  and  ex- 
perience, what  shall  we  say  as  to  the  for- 
givableness  of  sin?  How  can  we  reconcile 
the  certainty  of  retribution  with  the  doctrine 
of  pardon  ?  Punishment  and  forgiveness 
seem  to  be  utterly  conflicting  ideas.     If   we 


276    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS 

have  built  with  unseasoned  timber,  and 
daubed  with  untenipered  mortar,  can  our 
house  be  rebuilt,  or  must  we  stay  in  the  old 
structure  and  take  the  consequences  of  our 
misdoing  ?  That  question  strikes  to  the  very 
bottom  of  evangelical  religion. 

The  Bible  answers  it  in  terms  too  plain  to 
be  misunderstood.  If  it  tells  us  again  and 
again  that  sin  must  be  punished,  it  tells  us 
again  and  again,  and  in  warmer  phraseology, 
if  possible,  that  sin  may  be  forgiven.  Here 
it  takes  issue  squarely  with  all  forms  of 
unbelief.  IngersoU  scouted  the  idea  of  for- 
giveness. He  says :  "I  do  not  believe  in 
forgiveness.  If  I  rob  Mr.  Smith  and  God 
forgives  me,  how  does  that  help  Smith  ? " 
and  after  this  jaunty  deliverance  he  adds, 
"  No  forgiveness ;  eternal,  inexorable,  ever- 
lasting justice — that  is  what  I  believe  in,  and 
if  it  goes  hard  with  me  I  shall  stand  by  it, 
and  I  will  stick  to  my  logic  and  I  will  bear 
it  like  a  man."  To  this  agrees  the  late  Pro- 
fessor Clifford.  He  asks :  "  Can  the  favour 
of  the  Czar  make  guiltless  the  murder  of  old 
men  and  women  and  children  in  Circassian 
valleys?  Can  the  pardon  of  the  Sultan 
clean  the  bloody  hand  of  a  Pasha  ? "  And 
he  replies,  "  As  little  can  any  God  forgive 
sins  committed  against  men."    Emerson,  the 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS    277 

rationalist,  took  the  same  position.  He 
found  no  room  in  his  philosophy  for  the 
doctrine  of  forgiveness. 

But  the  Bible  strikes  a  different  note. 
While  it  bates  not  one  jot  or  tittle  from  the 
most  undeviating  justice,  while  it  keeps  the 
scales  on  an  even  balance  for  ever,  it  rings 
out  the  words  which  have  encouraged  so 
many  wayward  feet  to  turn  homeward, 
"Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way  and  the 
unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  :  and  let  him 
return  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  have  mercy 
upon  him ;  and  to  our  God,  for  He  will  abun- 
dantly pardon."  It  speaks  of  "  subduing 
iniquity,"  of  "  blotting  out  transgressions," 
of  "casting  our  sins  into  the  depths  of  the 
sea,"  of  "  robes  washed  and  made  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  There  certainly 
can  be  no  mistaking  the  position  of  the 
Bible.  If  it  is  true  sin  may  be  forgiven,  the 
prodigal  may  come  home,  the  shattered  vase 
may  be  restored. 

What  does  Nature  say?  In  so  far  as  it 
speaks  at  all  it  chimes  in  with  the  Word  of 
God.  Sometimes  it  is  said  that  Nature  is 
inexorable,  that  there  are  no  traces  of  mercy 
in  it  anywhere,  that  it  knows  nothing  what- 
ever of  pardon.  But  I  do  not  see  it  so.  Cut 
a  gash  in  a  tree,  or  a  wound  in  your  flesh, 


278    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS 

or  break  a  bone,  and  as  soon  as  the  hurt 
is  attended  to  it  begins  to  heal.  Give  up 
foolish  eating  and  drinking,  return  to  a  wise 
and  moderate  diet,  and  Nature  will  kindly 
do  what  it  can  to  forgive  you  and  to  remove 
from  your  system  the  traces  of  your  folly. 
It  seems  to  me  the  larger  truth  is  that  Nature 
is  full  of  healing  and  mercy.  Violate  its 
laws,  trample  on  them,  and  then  quit,  and 
immediately  Nature  begins  the  work  of  re- 
paration. It  is  just  because  Nature  is  so 
ready  to  forgive  transgression  that  men  are 
coming  to  believe  that  there  is  no  disease  for 
which  there  is  not  somewhere  a  cure.  For 
my  part  I  love  to  find  in  God's  material 
universe  hints  and  prophecies  of  all  that  I 
find  in  the  Gospel. 

Even  society,  with  all  its  petty  jealousies 
and  small  prejudices  and^  diluted  Christianity, 
is  learning  to  forgive  sins  against  itself.  Men 
come  forth  from  prisons  reformed  and  filled 
with  new  purpose,  to  prove  by  honest  and 
faithful  lives  that  they  are  changed,  and 
society  forgives  them.  It  takes  them  back 
and  restores  them,  if  not  wholly,  yet  to  a 
large  degree  of  favour.  If  the  forgiveness 
is  not  perfect,  if  there  is  still  a  lurking  sus- 
picion, the  preponderance  of  feeling  is  on 
the   side   of  mercy.     It   would   be   strange   if 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS    279 

God  alone  were  unrelenting  and  implacable, 
but  that  He  is  not ;  that  He  is  a  God  who 
loves  to  pardon,  the  Bible  teaches  on  a 
thousand  inspiring  pages. 

But  how  does  God  forgive  sin?  It  is  a 
question  that  leads  far  into  the  depths.  I 
can  only  give  to  it  a  very  partial  answer, 
for  I  am  not  a  theologian,  but  answer  enough 
to  thrill  and  stir  our  hearts.  Our  text  in- 
forms us  that  we  have  forgiveness  through 
the  blood  of  Christ,  and  this  is  the  uniform 
teaching  of  Holy  Scripture.  In  other  words, 
forgiveness  comes  to  us  through  Divine 
suffering.  Now  let  me  ask  you  to  think  of 
that  for  a  moment. 

There  are  people  who  object  to  what  is 
known  as  our  sacrificial  theology,  and  not  a 
few  refer  to  it  in  terms  of  severe  condemna- 
tion. It  seems  to  them  unreasonable  that 
pardon  for  sin  should  be  made  available 
only  by  virtue  of  the  suffering  of  Christ, 
and  some  even  go  so  far  as  to  affirm  that 
the  doctrine  of  a  vicarious  atonement  is 
fundamentally  immoral.  But,  as  another 
has  suggested,  if  we  take  the  whole  matter 
up  into  the  pure  sunlight  of  the  most 
heavenly  conception  we  can  gain  of  God's 
character,  we  shall  see  how  rational  and 
how  beautiful  it  all   is.     The  quality  of   the 


280    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS 

water  in  the  little  pool  on  the  shore  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  water  in  the  ocean. 
The  fire  in  the  gas-jet  is  the  same  as  the 
fire  that  fiames  in  the  sun.  And  the  best 
love  of  earth  is  in  nowise  different,  except 
in  degree,  from  the  love  of  God. 

Begin,  then,  with  what  we  see  and  know 
of  human  love.  Set  the  foot  of  the  ladder 
there  and  climb  to  the  heights.  Let  there 
be  a  rupture  between  friends,  let  them  be- 
come alienated  from  each  other,  and  it  is 
certain  that  they  cannot  be  reconciled  with- 
out pain.  If  the  forgiveness  is  complete  it 
will  mean  the  cross.  Try  it  for  yourselves. 
Go  to  the  man  with  whom  you  have  been 
at  enmity  for  years,  to  the  man  who  has 
wronged  you,  and  hold  out  the  hand  of 
reconciliation,  and  see  if  it  does  not  cost 
you  suffering.  Oh,  there  is  nothing  harder 
than  forgiveness.  It  cuts  to  the  very  roots, 
and  this,  I  suppose,  is  the  reason  why  it  is 
not  more  common.  When  a  fellow-man 
does  us  an  injury  we  are  too  apt  to  resent 
it  and  to  cherish  a  feeling  of  vindictiveness. 
We  choose  the  line  of  least  resistance.  But 
if  in  the  bigness  of  our  hearts  we  should 
really  forgive  him,  we  could  not  do  it  with- 
out taking  a  certain  amount  of  the  shame 
and  sorrow  of  his  sin  into  our  own  lives. 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS    281 

Take  it  into  the  closer  and  tenderer  rela- 
tions of  the  home.  A  boy  becomes  a  wan- 
derer. He  runs  oif  into  sin.  Down  and 
down  he  goes  until  he  stands  with  both 
feet  in  hell.  He  is  so  low,  so  vile,  that  he 
slimes  his  way  with  the  worm.  In  his  want 
and  shame  and  wretchedness  he  resolves  to 
go  back  to  the  old  roof  he  had  forsaken. 
He  starts,  and  when  he  returns  he  finds 
that  the  door  has  always  been  kept  open ; 
he  finds  that  his  father  and  mother  weep 
for  joy  and  fall  upon  his  neck  and  kiss  him, 
but  he  finds  also  that  their  heads  have  grown 
grey,  and  that  the  marks  of  a  great  sorrow 
are  in  their  faces.  They  have  forgiven  the 
prodigal,  but  oh,  those  traces  of  grief,  those 
whitened  heads,  are  the  evidences  of  what 
it  cost  them !  He  does  not  know,  he  never 
can  know,  the  agony  they  suffered ;  and 
that  agony  was  their  righteous  condemna- 
tion, their  measureless  abhorrence,  of  his 
sin.  I  am  not  theorising,  I  am  not  in- 
dulging in  mere  assertions,  but  declaring 
what  we  all  know  to  be  true  when  I  say 
that  no  father,  no  mother,  can  take  back  a 
wicked  son  without  laying  their  own  hearts 
upon  the  cross. 

Well,  this  may  help  us  to  understand  the 
teaching  of  our  text,  that  we  have  forgive- 


282    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS 

ness  of  our  sins  through  His  blood.  If  human 
love  must  suffer  in  forgiving,  and  if  through 
all  creation  love  is  the  same,  why  should  it 
be  thought  a  thing  incredible  or  unreason- 
able that  God  should  suffer  in  forgiving  ? 
Is  that  which  is  noble  and  sublime  in  an 
earthly  parent  unworthy  of  the  great  Father 
of  us  all?  To  my  mind,  the  fact  that  God 
suffers  in  forgiving,  suffers  with  a  sorrow, 
an  agony,  a  humiliation  of  which  Geth- 
semane  and  Calvary  are  but  faint  expres- 
sions, is  a  truth  so  touching,  so  appealing, 
so  infinitely  attractive,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
see  why  every  heart  should  not  be  won  by 
it.  To  consume  sin  in  hell-fire  seems  to  me 
to  be  a  small  estimate  of  God's  hatred  and 
horror  of  it  compared  with  burning  it  up  in 
the  awful  shame  and  suffering  of  His  own 
Almighty  breast. 

But  the  suffering  necessary  to  forgiveness 
is  not  all  on  one  side.  In  order  to  weld 
two  pieces  of  iron  both  of  them  must  be 
at  a  white  heat.  Even  God  cannot  forgive 
the  man  whose  heart  remains  cold  and  hard 
and  impenitent.  Not  until  the  shame  of  his 
sin  scorches  his  very  soul,  not  until  the  hot 
tears  of  genuine  repentance  melt  away  all 
rebellion  and  all  indifference,  not  until  he 
has   made   full    and    sincere    and   penitential 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS    283 

confession,  and  done  everything  in  his  power 
to  undo  his  wrong,  can  a  man  be  pardoned 
and  brought  into  reconcihation.  But  when 
a  poor  sinner  comes  to  that  point,  if  Mr. 
Smith  whom  he  has  robbed  is  not  magnani- 
mous and  quick  to  respond,  I  would  rather 
go  to  God's  bar  as  the  penitent  thief  than 
as  the  hard,  unyielding  Mr.  Smith. 

Here,  I  think,  a  sharp  distinction  ought 
to  be  made  between  forgiveness  and  the 
removal  of  punishment.  God  through  the 
suffering  of  the  Cross,  which  is  the  suffer- 
ing of  the  undivided  Deity,  blots  out  our 
sin,  but  very  often  sin's  fruit  remains.  He 
graciously  remits  our  sin,  but  the  poverty 
of  soul,  the  starved  spiritual  nature,  the 
reduced  volume  of  being,  consequent  upon 
sin,  goes  with  us  still.  Jerry  Macaulay  is 
forgiven,  he  becomes  a  most  saintly  and 
consecrated  follower  of  Jesus ;  but  he  never 
gets  back  the  years  he  wasted  in  debaucheiy, 
and  never  gets  away  from  the  marks  they 
left  upon  him.  David  was  forgiven,  but 
the  child  of  Bathsheba  died,  and  the  heart 
of  the  Psalmist  was  wrung  and  broken. 
The  prophet  assured  him  that  because  of 
his  sin  the  sword  would  never  depart  from 
his  house,  and  it  never  did.  Across  every 
bright  day  there  was  a  cloud.      Every  sing- 


284    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS 

ing  bird  awakened  a  memory  that  was  like 
an  arrow  in  his  breast.  Underneath  all  the 
music  of  his  life  there  ran  a  deep  minor 
tone  of  sorrow.  That  deed  of  wickedness 
continued  to  haunt  him. 

The  Cross  is  not  a  device  by  which  a  man 
can  live  thirty  or  forty  years  in  sin,  and 
then  turn  about  and  escape  the  results  of 
his  viciousness.  If  it  were  men  might  well 
sneer  at  Bible  teaching.  But  it  is  nothing 
of  the  kind.  The  penitent  thief  who  is 
saved  just  as  he  swings  into  eternity  carries 
with  him  the  emptiness  of  the  life  he  has 
wasted.  Heaven  will  always  mean  less  to 
him  than  if  he  had  devoted  all  his  years 
to  God.  Paul,  speaking  of  certain  careless 
believers  who  built  upon  their  foundation 
wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  declares  that  they 
shall  be  saved  so  as  by  fire,  and  shall  suffe7' 
loss. 

Shall  suffer  loss.  Who  can  tell  how 
great  ?  Just  inside  the  gate,  when  they 
might  have  been  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
city  of  God.  Just  saved,  barely  saved — 
salvation  minus  the  fulness  and  the  rich- 
ness and  the  rewards  and  the  triumph  of 
long  and  consecrated  service.  Thank  God 
for  the  grace  that  can  save  a  man  at  the 
eleventh    hour,   but    eleventh-hour  salvation 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS    285 

can  never  bring  a  man  all  that  would  have 
come  to  him  if  he  had  started  earlier.  Such 
a  man  as  that  will  have  to  sail  in  shallower 
water  and  in  a  smaller  boat  for  ever. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  if  forgiveness  does 
not  arrest  the  operation  of  law ;  if  it  does 
not  cut  us  off  from  penalty ;  if  it  does  not 
deliver  us  from  the  purely  natural  conse- 
quences of  sin,  of  what  use  is  it?  Why 
make  so  much  of  pardon  if  it  leaves  punish- 
ment behind  ?  In  reply,  it  is  enough  to  say, 
because  forgiveness  brings  peace  to  the  soul, 
it  removes  the  sting  and  burden  of  guilt,  it 
takes  us  as  we  are  up  into  fellowship  with 
God,  and  tunes  us  to  the  music  of  the  skies. 
It  sets  us  right  with  ourselves  and  right 
with  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  produces  the 
satisfaction  that  always  comes  from  Tight- 
ness of  attitude.  A  child  becomes  dis- 
obedient and  rebellious.  It  runs  off  and  gets 
severely  hurt.  Then  it  hastens  back  to  its 
mother  and  is  promptly  forgiven.  The  hurt 
is  still  there ;  the  smart  remains ;  but  is 
it  not  infinitely  easier  to  bear  it  in  the 
mother's  arms  and  in  the  sunshine  of  the 
mother's  love  than  it  would  be  to  bear  it 
alone  and  under  the  frown  of  her  dis- 
pleasure? So,  while  sin  must  be  punished, 
it  is   one   thing   to   bear  the   punishment  in 


286    FORGIVENESS  AND  THE   CROSS 

exile  and  banishment,  under  the  awful 
shadow  of  God's  displeasure,  and  an  im- 
mensely different  thing  to  bear  it  under  the 
warmth  and  tenderness  of  His  sympathy, 
while  resting  securely  in  the  arms  of  His 
love. 

This  is  the  kind  of  forgiveness  we  have 
through  His  blood,  and  when  we  enter  into 
its  deep  places  and  grasp  something  of  its 
meaning  and  think  of  what  it  brings  us  to 
rather  than  what  it  delivers  us  from,  we  do 
not  wonder  that  our  hymns  are  so  laden 
with  tributes  to  the  grace  of  God.  The 
stain  can  be  washed  from  Lady  Macbeth's 
hand,  and  the  anguish  of  remorse  changed 
into  an  anthem  of  praise.  Saul,  the  red- 
handed  persecutor,  may  be  pardoned,  and 
become  Paul,  the  peerless  hero  and  apostle 
of  God.  Bunyan,  the  profane  tinker,  whose 
talk  smelled  of  brimstone,  may  have  his  sins 
blotted  out  and  give  to  the  world  a  story 
of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  that  will  never 
die.  John  B.  Gough,  the  drunkard,  may 
have  forgiveness  through  His  blood,  and  be 
transformed  into  the  matchless  advocate  of 
temperance  and  manhood.  Great  sinners 
and  small  sinners,  transgressors  of  every 
shade  and  hue,  may  have  forgiveness,  com- 
plete,   absolute,    and    eternal — a    forgiveness 


FORGIVENESS  AND  THE  CROSS    287 

that  comes  through  the  vicarious  sufferings 
of  the  Cross,  which  is  the  suffering  of  God 
Himself  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  old  notion  of  a  God  who  is  impassible 
and  incapable  of  pain — an  unfeeling  God — 
I  cannot  accept.  Such  a  God  as  that  I 
cannot  preach.  He  is  nothing  to  me.  I 
cannot  call  Him  Father ;  for  what  kind  of 
a  father  is  that  who  lives  above  and  beyond 
the  hurt  of  his  children  ?  I  want  a  God 
whose  sympathy  is  equal  to  His  sove- 
reignty ;  a  God  so  tender,  so  susceptible,  so 
compassionate,  that  He  feels  with  me,  and 
for  me,  and  receives  upon  the  shores  of 
His  own  soul  the  waves  that  break  across 
mine ;  a  God  not  only  strong  enough  to 
hold  the  reins  of  the  universe,  but  a  God 
gentle  enough  and  kind  enough  to  hold  me, 
with  all  my  sins  and  all  my  unworthiness, 
up  against  His  own  beating  heart.  This  is 
the  God  we  have  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ, 
through  whose  blood,  through  whose  pangs 
and  pains  we  have  redemption  and  the  for- 
giveness of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of 
His  grace. 


WHERE    WE    REST    OUR    FAITH 


20 


WHERE    WE    REST    OUR    FAITH 

"Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." — 
Eph.  ii.  20. 

THE  times  are  full  of  intellectual  unrest. 
Old  positions,  old  doctrines,  and  beliefs 
are  either  challenged  or  rejected  altogether. 
Multitudes  have  broken  with  the  past,  cut 
their  moorings,  and  drifted  out  to  sea,  only 
to  be  driven  by  the  wind  and  tossed.  Other 
multitudes,  while  they  still  remain  with  the 
old,  and  still  retain  their  places  in  the  his- 
toric Church,  are  uneasy  and  uncertain. 
The  prevailing  winds  that  beat  upon  them 
are  so  strong  and  steady  that  they  are  be- 
ginning to  lean,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 
they  have  enough  strength  and  depth  of 
root  left  to  hold  them  from  going  over. 
They  have  seen  so  many  theological  posi- 
tions abandoned  since  they  were  children, 
and  so  much  of  the  orthodox  creeds  prac- 
tically   stricken    out,   that    they  are    asking 

291 


292    WHERE   WE  REST  OUR  FAITH 

with  a  good  deal  of  emphasis  whether  there 
is  anything  left  worth  clinging  to. 

I  venture  to  say  that  even  those  of  us 
who  hold  most  strenuously  to  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints,  and  to  all  that  sys- 
tem of  doctrine  that  has  grown  up  about 
it,  are  more  or  less  affected  by  this  wide- 
spread loosening  and  questioning  and  break- 
ing up.  Sometimes  there  has  crept  into  our 
souls  the  distressing  thought  of  the  possi- 
bility of  a  shattered  faith  and  of  cherished 
hopes  blown  out  like  a  candle  in  the  night. 
Friends,  neighbours,  loved  ones,  men  and 
women  of  high  character  and  pronounced 
ability,  have  gone  out  from  the  communion 
of  the  Church  and  the  Christianity  in  which 
they  were  reared,  out  into  "  the  tangle  and 
the  storm"  of  doubt,  or  out  to  try  some 
new  faith,  and  in  spite  of  ourselves  we  have 
been  seriously  unsettled  and  disturbed  by 
it.  There  has  come  into  our  hearts  the 
suggestion  that  after  all  they  may  be  right, 
and  that  we  may  be  wrong.  For  some  of 
us  there  have  been  times  when  the  intel- 
lectual distress  arising  from  this  condition 
of  things  amounted  almost  to  torture. 
In  this  universal  unsettlement  of  religious 
thought  and  belief  every  hard  -  thinking, 
serious    mind    amongst    us    has     more     or 


WHERE  WE   REST  OUR  FAITH    293 

less  shared.  We  have  wondered  sometimes 
where  we  would  come  out,  whether  on 
higher  ground,  and  in  a  clearer  atmosphere 
of  Christian  faith,  or  in  some  boggy  swamp- 
land of  atheism  and  despair. 

Now,  in  such  times  as  these  we  should 
studiously  and  earnestly  seek  to  be  clear  as 
to  fundamentals.  We  should  think  our  way 
through  all  that  is  secondary  and  subordi- 
nate to  the  essential,  and  hold  to  that  with 
a  grip  which  nothing  can  relax  or  undo. 
Thoughtful  people  must  do  it  or  make  ship- 
wreck of  faith  and  become  poor  derelicts 
on  life's  troubled  sea.  The  reason  why  there 
is  so  much  weakness,  so  much  yielding,  so 
much  drifting  away  upon  new  currents,  is 
because  there  is  so  much  uncertainty ;  and 
uncertainty  is  the  result  of  resting  faith  too 
much  on  wrong  foundations.  These  founda- 
tions go,  they  are  swept  away,  or  if  not 
they  are  sorely  shaken,  and  the  consequence 
is  that  the  house  built  upon  them  is  either 
destroyed  or  violently  shaken  also.  Instead 
of  building  upon  the  Rock  far  too  many 
have  built  upon  the  traditional  material 
that  has  been  superimposed  upon  it.  Hence 
when  that  goes,  and  is  washed  down  the 
valleys  before  the  swelling  floods  of  scholar- 
ship and   investigation,  they  go   too,  and   in 


294    WHERE  WE  REST   OUR  FAITH 

the  drift  make  fast  to  any  bank  where  they 
can  find  a  landing. 

This  explains  the  lapses  from  the  faith 
that  have  become  so  common.  Instead  of 
fleeing  to  the  citadel,  to  Jesus  Christ  Him- 
self, too  many  take  refuge  in  the  outworks. 
After  a  while  the  outworks  are  assaulted 
and  captured,  and,  with  their  defences  gone, 
there  is  nothing  left  for  people  of  this  kind 
to  do  but  to  go  over  to  the  enemy.  This 
also  is  the  reason  why  infidelity  has  had  so 
large  a  field  to  work  in.  If  Church  people 
had  always  been  wise  enough  to  plant 
themselves  upon  the  Rock,  if  they  had 
always  intelligently  built  their  hopes  upon 
the  impregnable  Gibraltar  of  Christianity, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  infidelity 
would  long  ago  have  beaten  itself  to  death. 
But  because  they  foolishly  put  their  trust 
in  little  outside  stockades  and  man-made 
ramparts  of  doctrine  and  interpretation, 
infidelity  has  found  a  wide  range  for  the 
play  of  its  artillery.  It  has  lived  and 
thrived  because  the  Church  has  given  it  so 
much  to  exercise  itself  upon. 

Now  I  believe  I  shall  render  a  real  service 
this  morning  by  pointing  out  in  the  first  place 
some  of  the  things  upon  which,  as  intelligent 
Christians,  we  should  not  rest  our  faith ;  and 


WHERE   WE  REST  OUR  FAITH    295 

in  the  second  place  by  calling  attention  afresh 
to  Him  who  should  be  the  one  centre  of  all 
our  hopes,  the  one  foundation  of  the  house  we 
are  building  for  time  and  eternity. 

I.  I  begin  with  the  Higher  Criticism  and 
with  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch. 
We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  "  the 
mistakes  of  Moses."  We  have  been  told  that 
it  is  absurd  to  believe  that  Moses  could  have 
written  the  account  of  his  own  death  and 
gone  into  all  the  details  of  it.  We  have  been 
told  that  the  book  of  Genesis  contains  two 
independent  accounts  of  the  creation ;  and 
any  one  who  will  read  thoughtfully  and 
seriously  the  first  three  chapters,  without 
bias,  without  the  prejudice  of  preconceived 
notions,  without  suffering  himself  to  be  influ- 
enced by  long-accepted  interpretations,  will 
have  to  admit  that  there  seems  to  be  some- 
thing in  it.  In  style,  in  subject-matter,  and 
in  fundamental  ideas  there  is  difference 
enough  to  at  least  suggest  that  there  may 
have  been  two  different  authors. 

But  suppose  there  were  two  authors, 
suppose  the  composite  character  of  Genesis 
and  the  whole  Pentateuch  is  proved  beyond  a 
doubt  (personally,  I  do  not  think  it  ever  will 
be ;  but  suppose  it  should) — what  will  it 
matter  ?     If  the  substance  of  these  books  is 


296    WHERE  WE  REST  OUR  FAITH 

true,  if  it  commends  itself  to  the  universal 
consciousness,  if  we  have  God  in  the  begin- 
ning, and  God  working  in  and  through 
creation,  and  God  seeking  to  redeem  the 
sinning  world,  and  God  leading  His  people  to 
the  promised  land,  we  need  not  trouble  our- 
selves about  the  authorship  of  the  book  or 
books  that  tell  the  story.  Nobody  knows 
who  wrote  the  book  of  Job,  or  wrote  half  of 
the  Psalms,  or  who  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews ;  but  this  does  not  at  all  affect  the 
truth  of  these  wonderful  productions.  A 
book  does  not  get  its  worth  and  power  from 
subscribing  some  human  name  to  it.  If 
Shakespeare's  dramas  were  anonymous  they 
would  be  no  less  mighty  and  tremendous  than 
they  are  with  his  signature  appended. 
Eliminate  the  name  of  Tennyson  from  litera- 
ture and  that  immortal  poem  "  In  Memoriam  " 
would  be  just  as  true  and  telling  as  ever. 
Truth  needs  no  human  label  to  commend  it, 
and  if  truth  be  lacking,  no  number  of  names 
or  labels  will  suffice  to  keep  a  book  afloat. 

And  so  we  need  not  worry  about  the  Penta- 
teuch. If  it  is  true,  as  we  believe,  it  will  live 
if  there  never  had  been  a  Moses.  The  same 
thing  may  be  said  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah. 
The  critics  assure  us  that  there  must  have 
been   two   Isaiahs.     They   are    very    positive 


WHERE  WE  REST  OUR  FAITH    297 

about  it.  For  my  part  I  do  not  care  if  there 
were  twenty,  so  long  as  they  were  all  in 
harmony  and  all  pointed  forward  to  the  same 
Messiah.  If  they  differed  and  clashed  and 
contradicted  each  other  and  pointed  in 
different  directions,  it  would  be  in  order  to 
reject  them  all.  But  if  they  all  agreed,  if 
they  all  struck  substantially  the  same  note, 
if  the  contribution  of  each  chimed  in  with 
the  contribution  of  every  other,  it  would  be 
pretty  strong  evidence  that  they  were  all 
moved  by  the  same  spirit  and  that  the  burden 
of  what  they  wrote  about  was  true.  And  the 
truth  is  the  main  thing.  We  do  not  rest  our 
faith  on  human  authorship.  I  am  not  saying 
that  I  agree  with  the  critics,  for  I  do  not ; 
but  only  trying  to  make  clear  that  they 
do  not  touch  the  foundation  on  which  we 
build. 

II.  Nor  do  we  rest  our  faith,  I  hope,  upon 
the  mere  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Mr. 
Moody  declared  that  he  believed  every  word 
of  it.  But  that  was  a  very  loose  and  careless 
statement.  Everybody  honoured  Mr.  Moody 
for  his  stalwart  evangelicalism  and  his  multi- 
tude of  good  works.  His  religion  had  roots 
and  the  tree  of  his  life  was  full  of  fruit.  He 
was  a  man  of  tremendous  conviction,  and  out 
of   that    conviction   came   an    earnestness,    a 


298    WHERE  WE  REST  OUR  FAITH 

consecration,  a  practical  godliness,  that  puts 
us  all  to  shame. 

But  even  Mr.  Moody  himself  could  not 
deny  that  there  are  verbal  errors  in  the 
Bible,  wrong  words  which  have  found  their 
way  in  in  transcribing  and  translating.  If 
we  could  get  at  the  original  autographs  I 
have  no  doubt  that  we  should  find  them 
inerrant ;  but  in  the  absence  of  that  we  have 
to  take  what  has  come  to  us,  and  it  is  not  free 
from  verbal  flaws.  The  Revised  Version 
makes  this  plain  enough.  All  Christian 
students  and  scholars  admit  that  there  are 
verbal  blemishes  and  imperfections  in  the 
Bible,  and  the  one  purpose  of  Revision  was  to 
remove  these  as  far  as  possible.  But  these 
errors  do  not  in  the  least  affect  the  substance 
of  the  book,  or  alter  by  a  single  iota  its  Divine 
teachings.  The  truth  is  still  there  and  can 
no  more  be  changed  than  the  truth  of  nature 
is  changed  by  the  constant  corrections  which 
science  finds  it  necessary  to  make  in  its  text- 
books. What  I  want  to  emphasise  is  that 
those  who  have  pinned  their  faith  to  the 
mere  words  of  the  Bible,  who  are  committed 
to  the  form  rather  than  the  substance,  to  the 
letter  rather  than  to  the  spirit,  can  expect 
nothing  else  than  to  be  jolted  and  shaken  and 
tossed  about.     They  are  building  on  a  founda- 


WHERE  WE   REST  OUR  FAITH    299 

tion  of  sand.  But  we  do  not  rest  our  faith 
there,  nor  ev^n  upon  the  plenary  inspiration 
of  the  Bible,  thoroughly  as  we  accept  that. 
We  have  something  better,  something  more 
solid,  than  the  best  of  books  to  build  upon. 
Salvation  is  not  in  paper  and  ink. 

There  are  people  who  imagine  that  if  we 
are  compelled  to  give  up  the  literal  historicity 
of  the  story  of  the  Fall,  of  the  origin  of  the 
woman  from  the  rib  of  the  man,  of  the 
serpent  and  the  apple  ;  and  that  if  we  are 
compelled  to  give  up  the  exact  literal  account 
of  Cain  and  Abel,  and  of  the  sons  of  God 
coming  down  and  choosing  wives  from  among 
the  daughters  of  men,  and  of  all  the  details  of 
the  Deluge — they  feel  that  we  shall  have  given 
up  about  everything.  It  seems  strange  when 
you  come  to  think  about  it.  They  know 
very  well  that  our  Lord's  parables  are  not 
literal  history.  They  know  very  well  that  in 
verbal  form  they  are  mere  fiction ;  but  they 
know  also  that  in  substance  they  are  as  true 
as  the  multiplication  table.  And  yet  when 
some  thoroughly  devout  and  godly  scholar 
ventures  to  suggest  that  the  story  of  Eden  is 
a  parable,  or  an  invention  of  language  to 
convey  a  great  truth,  these  earnest  souls  are 
shocked.  They  do  not  discriminate  between 
the  vehicle  and  the  freightage  it  carries,  and 


300    WHERE   WE  REST  OUR  FAITH 

nothing  has  wrought  more  mischief  than  this 
in  religious  history.  The  mere  wrappage  and 
investiture  of  the  jewel  has  been  held  to  be  as 
sacred  and  inviolable  as  the  interior  gem  itself, 
if  not  a  constituent  part  of  it.  Any  altera- 
tion in  the  tubing,  any  re-setting,  or  readjust- 
ment of  the  pipes,  has  been  regarded  as  a 
fatal  interference  with  the  water  from  the 
everlasting  hills.  It  has  caused  endless 
trouble,  and  the  last  act  has  not  been  played 
out  yet. 

No  wonder  that  those  who  commit  them- 
selves to  the  mere  clothes  of  truth,  to  the 
changing  shell  rather  than  to  the  abiding 
kernel,  to  the  mutable  windows  rather  than 
the  immutable  light  that  shines  through  them 
— no  wonder  they  are  sorely  unsettled  and 
disturbed.  But  intelligent,  clear-thinking  men 
and  women  do  not  rest  their  faith  upon  any 
such  externals.  They  lay  the  stress  not  upon 
the  shape  of  the  loaf,  or  upon  its  particular 
brand,  or  upon  the  varying  moulds  out  of 
which  it  comes,  but  upon  the  Bread  of  Life 
itself. 

III.  Moreover,  as  thoughtful  Christian 
believers,  we  do  not  rest  our  faith  upon  any 
special  teaching  with  reference  to  the  future. 
We  are  not  saved  by  eschatology.  Some  of 
us  can  remember  the  vivid  and  awful  descrip- 


WHERE  WE  REST  OUR  FAITH    301 

tions  of  hell  and  the  tortures  of  the  damned 
to  which  we  used  to  listen  long  ago.  Perdition 
was  pictured  in  material  form,  and  the 
punishment  of  the  lost  was  so  represented 
that  it  seemed  to  be  physical.  But  this  teach- 
ing has  all  passed  away,  or  if  not  obsolete  it 
certainly  is  obsolescent.  Not  that  the  sub- 
stance of  it  is  gone.  Not  that  the  certainty 
of  future  punishment  has  been  eliminated 
from  our  thinking.  Not  that  retribution  has 
been  relegated  to  the  region  of  myth  and 
unreality.  Nay,  we  believe  in  a  hell  of  con- 
science, a  hell  of  stinging,  biting,  burning 
remorse  for  the  impenitent  wrong-doer  far 
more  terrible  than  any  hell  of  material  fire 
that  was  ever  painted — such  a  hell  as  burned 
in  the  breast  of  Eugene  Aram  and  Lady 
Macbeth.  I  only  want  you  to  note  what  a 
change  has  come  in  the  form  of  this  belief. 
It  used  to  be  taught  that  there  was  no  hope 
for  those  who  lived  and  died  in  lands  where 
the  Gospel  was  unknown ;  that  the  millions  of 
pagan  countries  who  never  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  hear  about  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
were  doomed ;  that  there  was  no  second 
chance  for  those  who  never  had  a  first 
chance ;  that  for  those  who  sinned  in  the 
ignorance  of  superstition  and  in  an  environ- 
ment  of  abomination  into  which  they  were 


302    WHERE  WE   REST  OUR  FAITH 

born  and  could  not  help  themselves,  there  was 
nothing  to  look  forward  to  but  eternal  misery 
and  despair.  All  this  used  to  be  urged  as  a 
motive  for  missionary  enterprise  and  in  the 
name  of  a  God  of  infinite  love.  But  to-day  it 
is  practically  obsolete.  It  has  yielded  to 
views  that  are  broader  and  more  in  accord 
with  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  His  Gospel.  The 
whole  Church  has  come  up  to  higher  ground. 
I  refer  to  it  only  because  I  want  you  to  see 
where  we  would  be  if  we  rested  our  faith 
upon  any  interpretations,  or  deductions,  or 
teachings  concerning  the  future.  Faith  must 
have  an  immovable  foundation,  for  if  it  has 
not  it  will  sooner  or  later  give  place  to 
scepticism. 

IV.  I  believe  in  doctrine,  and  in  the 
doctrines  known  as  evangelical.  If  I  did  not 
I  would  not  be  here.  I  love  to  think  about 
them  and  to  preach  them.  I  believe  that  the 
great  doctrines  of  Christianity  fit  into  the 
great  facts  of  human  life  as  the  key  fits  into 
the  lock.  To  laugh  at  these  doctrines,  or  to 
cast  them  aside,  is  no  evidence  of  superior 
wisdom  or  enlightenment.  They  are  not  to 
be  despised.  But  at  the  same  time  they  are 
not  to  be  exalted  beyond  the  place  to  which 
they  belong.  Doctrines  are  human  interpre- 
tations   of    truth,    and    not    necessarily   the 


WHERE  WE   REST  OUR  FAITH    303 

truth  itself.  They  partake  of  the  imperfec- 
tions and  fallibilities  of  the  human  minds  that 
have  worked  them  out.  Their  gold  is  not 
without  the  alloy  of  human  weakness  and 
human  prejudice.  This  being  the  case,  we 
should  remember  that  they  are  susceptible  of 
constant  change  and  improvement. 

And  they  are  changing.  They  are  under- 
going constant  modification  and  revision.  It 
is  impossible  not  to  see  it.  Within  the  last 
fifty  years  there  have  been  the  most  decided 
doctrinal  changes  as  to  the  method  of  creation, 
as  to  the  literary  structure  of  the  Bible,  as  to 
future  punishment,  as  to  the  scope  and  nature 
of  the  Atonement,  and  as  to  the  whole  system 
of  Christian  belief.  Silently,  steadily,  irresis- 
tibly these  changes  have  gone  on.  Increase 
of  knowledge  is  always  a  troublesome  thing. 
It  disturbs  and  unsettles  and  upsets.  It  plays 
havoc  with  those  who  build  upon  the  mutable 
and  the  shifting.  It  cuts  the  props  from 
under  them  and  lets  them  down  into  the 
rushing  stream. 

And  such  is  the  unhappy  plight  of  those 
who  build  upon  doctrine.  I  might  illustrate 
it  by  referring  to  the  Atonement.  You  know 
that  there  are  several  theories  as  to  this 
great  vital  truth  of  Christianity.  There  is  the 
governmental    theory,    that    Christ    died    to 


304     WHERE  WE  REST  OUR  FAITH 

promote  the  highest  welfare  of  the  subjects 
of  God's  moral  government;  and  the  moral 
influence  theory,  that  He  died  simply  to  win 
men  by  the  force  of  His  sublime  example  ; 
and  the  vicarious  theory,  that  He  died  in  the 
room  and  stead  of  sinning  men ;  and  the 
mystical  theory,  that  He  came  into  the 
world  to  reconcile  God  and  man  by  His  incar- 
nation rather  than  by  His  death  on  the  cross. 
In  addition  to  these  there  is  the  limited 
theory,  that  Christ  died  only  for  the  elect, 
and  I  know  not  how  many  more. 

Now,  you  can  easily  understand  what  must 
be  the  condition  of  those  who  rest  their 
faith  uj)on  these  theories  of  the  schools,  as 
they  see  them  changing  and  yielding  to  better 
interpretation  and  broader  scholarship.  It 
weakens,  it  discourages,  and  in  all  too  many 
cases  drives  men  over  into  downright  scepti- 
cism. But  if  we  are  as  intelligent,  as  thought- 
ful, as  wise  as  we  ought  to  be,  we  do  not 
build  there.  That  is  not  our  corner-stone. 
We  believe  that  all  these  theories  added 
together  are  too  small  to  cover  the  great  fact 
of  the  Atonement.  We  believe  that  Christ 
crucified  is  infinitely  more  than  any  theory 
of  His  atoning  sacrifice.  We  believe  that  a 
man  may  be  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian 
without  knowing  anything  at  all  about  these 


WHERE  WE   REST  OUR   FAITH    305 

theories ;  that  He  may  be  a  most  consecrated 
disciple  without  being  able  to  explain  the  how 
of  salvation.  All  he  may  be  able  to  do  is  to 
fall  back  on  the  words  of  Paul  and  say, 
"Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  rose  again  according  to  the 
Scriptures." 

On  that  Rock  we  build,  and  not  on  doctrines 
and  definitions,  and  interpretations,  and 
authorships,  good  as  they  are  in  their  place. 
The  nature  of  the  awful  tragedy  on  Calvary 
is  a  mystery.  There  are  meanings  in  it  too 
deep  for  us ;  but  we  can  understand  some- 
thing of  the  personal  Christ.  We  think  of 
Him  living  for  men,  sympathising  with  men, 
dying  for  men — dying  for  us — and  we  love 
Him.  We  bring  to  Him  our  wounded  hearts, 
our  pricked  consciences,  our  sin-laden  souls, 
and  we  find  pardon  and  peace.  Our  Gospel  is 
the  gospel  of  a  person,  and  that  Person  is 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  God  stooping  to 
human  infirmity,  incarnate  Love  making  of 
itself  a  way  for  every  poor  wanderer  to 
return  home.     On  that  Rock  we  build. 

Jesus  Christ,  and  Jesus  Christ  alone,  is  the 
light  of  our  life,  the  spring  of  our  hope,  the 
centre  and  substance  of  our  faith.  So  long  as 
He  remains  we  care  not  what  else  may  go ; 
and  He  will  remain  as  certainly  as  He  is  God 

21 


306    WHERE  WE   REST  OUR  FAITH 

the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  If 
the  Bible  stands  it  will  stand  because  He 
stands.  If  doctrines  and  creeds  and  con- 
fessions survive,  they  will  survive  because 
they  are  vitally  related  to  Him.  If  our 
peculiar  standards  and  tenets  and  ecclesias- 
tical furniture  continue  to  float,  it  will  be 
because  they  are  in  the  ship  with  Jesus.  If 
our  little  systems  go,  let  them  go,  as  long  as 
He  is  left — 

"  Our  little  systems  have  their  day — 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be ; 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 
And  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they.' 

You  cannot  bound  Christ  by  words  and 
definitions.  You  cannot  fence  Him  within 
any  sectarian  enclosures.  You  cannot  set 
Christ  in  any  little  niche  of  theology,  to  be 
looked  at  and  measured  like  a  lay  figure,  any 
more  than  you  can  bottle  up  the  sunshine  and 
confine  it  within  a  given  compass.  Put  all 
our  theories,  all  our  creeds,  all  our  systems 
and  theologies  on  one  side  of  the  equation, 
and  then  put  Christ  on  the  other,  and  it 
would  be  like  setting  a  small  mill-pond  over 
against  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  I  am  not  making 
light  of  these  systems  and  efforts  of  the 
human  intellect.  They  are  not  to  be  despised. 
My  sole  purpose  is  to  lead  you  to  the  citadel, 


WHERE   WE  REST  OUR  FAITH    307 

to  show  you  that  Jesus  is  everything.  On 
that  Rock  we  build.  I  want  you  to  follow 
Him  in  life,  in  thought,  in  study,  in  devotion ; 
to  love  with  His  love,  to  sorrow  with  His 
grief,  to  rejoice  with  His  joy,  to  be  brothers 
to  all  to  whom  He  became  brother,  and  to  go 
where  He  would  go  with  your  sympathy  and 
service. 


THE   END 


UNWIN  BBOTHERe,  LIMITED,  PRINTEBS,  WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


